County Program Protects Beaches, Public Health

By Supervisor Greg Cox

When people think of San Diego, our sparkling beaches usually come to mind. After all, California’s coast is what makes us California.

Our beaches draw thousands of residents each year, and they are an integral part of our region’s dynamic tourism market. Making sure our beaches are safe for swimmers and surfers is a top priority of the County’s Department of Environmental Health (DEH), which operates a popular beach water monitoring program.

Unfortunately, the future of that program was severely threatened by the state’s ongoing financial crisis. But this week, the County Board of Supervisors approved a proposal that will keep our beach water monitoring program alive this summer despite the continuing budget drama being played out in Sacramento.

The proposal not only will keep the program going, but it will also offer a blueprint for how local governments in the future will provide public services with fewer employees and diminishing revenues.

Since July 1999, DEH has conducted weekly monitoring of water quality at local beaches. The program is mandated by state law, with the provision that the state reimburses the County for its costs.

In September of 2008, during the state’s budget crisis, the Governor vetoed the funding for the statewide beach monitoring program and DEH was forced to shut down our local sampling.

I traveled to Sacramento on November 4, 2008 to urge the State Water Resources Control Board to provide up to $1.9 million from Proposition 13 funds voters approved to improve water quality and provide it for local monitoring programs like ours. It did.

Unfortunately, in January 2009, the state notified the County that if was freezing the Proposition 13 bond funds. Without that money, the County was facing the real threat of being unable to start its more aggressive monitoring program for the summer season that starts April 1 and runs through October 31.

That is why I worked with County staff and environmental organizations to craft a solution that will allow us to start the summer monitoring program in April, even though we have yet to receive any State funding.

Eventually, we expect to receive the State water board appropriations for the program. But we cannot afford to wait for Sacramento to clean up its act. We had to act now to keep this popular and important program alive so that beachgoers can be notified about water quality this summer.

The program will be slightly scaled back, going from collecting 98 samples each week to 60 samples. Our experts say the new program will still protect the public’s health.

The new program will be more efficient. Instead of costing the County about $300,000 a year, it will now cost us about $150,000. And instead of requiring two employees, it will only need one employee.

As the economy continues to struggle, this is an example of how the County will have to adjust to the times and change its way of doing business.

An important component of the proposal approved by the Board of Supervisors is that we have directed county administrators to discuss with coastal cities, the Unified Port of San Diego and wastewater agencies to develop a formula to share future costs of the beach water program.

We will also forge new and expanded partnerships with non-profit environmental groups to expand the use of their resources and their testing programs.

Together, a regional partnership can ensure the quality of our beaches. Our beaches are one of San Diego’s most precious natural resource and I will work hard to protect them. I want to make sure our residents and tourists can visit the beaches this summer without worrying about what’s in the water.