The move could harm efforts at keeping local beaches safe. Malibu says its water quality testing will not be affected.
By Melonie Magruder / Special to The Malibu Times
Just as Heal the Bay released its End of Summer Beach Report Card last week touting high water quality grades at 90 percent of 514 California beaches, excepting many in Malibu, Gov. Schwarzenegger announced he was vetoing all state funding for beach water quality monitoring. The move was made as part of the just-approved state budget.
State law AB411 created bacteria standards and monitoring requirements for water quality at California’s public beaches during summer seasons. Now, the law has no financial backing.
“This line-item veto by the governor seems to me to be penny-wise and pound foolish,” Executive Director of Heal the Bay Mark Gold said. “The monitoring program represents only about $1 million a year in state funding and now, some counties’ ability to assess their beach’s water quality in a timely basis is severely curtailed. So people will not know what they are swimming in.”
Gold said the budget cut’s effects will vary from county to county and that Los Angeles and Long Beach should be able to “eat” their $35,000 to $45,000 portion of the hit and still be able to provide some monitoring.
“But San Diego County has to entirely eliminate their beach water monitoring program after losing about $300,000,” Gold said. “Orange County and Ventura County have taken big hits, as well. Those are some of the most popular beaches in the country.”
Malibu City Manager Jim Thorsen said he doesn’t see cuts to AB411 funding as affecting city or county water quality monitoring programs that are already in place for Malibu.
“Either we fund testing for programs throughout the year or we partner with different county agencies for different testing programs,” Thorsen said. “Our testing will continue and the county will provide us with results of their testing if we request it.”
Some of the shortfall may be made up by the federal government, thanks to the recent agreement by the Environmental Protection Agency to conduct congressionally mandated studies of bacteria in coastal waters and update its water quality standards.
“It’s true,” Gold said. “The Bush administration will now be paying more for our state’s beach monitoring than California is paying.”
While funding could be restored in future budgets, Gold said he isn’t optimistic this would happen anytime soon, given the state’s budget woes.
“It’s swim at your own risk,” Gold said.
Malibu water quality still under the weather
An ongoing drought that has limited urban runoff into storm drains has resulted in grades of A or B from Heal the Bay’s End of the Summer Report Card at state beaches for their water quality during the summer. However, Los Angeles County beaches, including many in Malibu, received a D or F. Among those are Surfrider Beach, Paradise Cove, Solstice Canyon at Dan Blocker Beach and Marie Canyon at Puerco Beach.
Heal the Bay’s 10th report card coincides with the 10th anniversary of the implementation of AB411. It is presented as an overview of the water quality found at California’s 514 beaches.
AB411’s monitoring requirements led to former Gov. Gray Davis’ $34 million funding proposal to restore the health of California beaches, known as the Clean Beach Initiative.
California beaches have seen progress under the initiative, which has funded research on rapid pathogen testing, low-flow runoff diversions and other programs that have improved the health of state beaches.
Some Malibu beaches, however, continue to elude substantive progress, despite infrastructure investments, such as the new pump system installed at the storm drain at Marie Canyon.
The Southern California Coastal Water Research Project, a research institute funded by a number of member agencies, has ongoing coastal water monitoring projects throughout Southern California and provides testing results to Malibu.
Meanwhile, Heal the Bay’s new Report Card Web site shows immediate grades for local beaches, based on bacteria analysis and updated by the agency weekly.
Heal the Bay’s newly redesigned Report Card microsite, with full data on all local beaches, can be found online at www.healthebay.org/brc
-By Melonie Magruder