“You definitely comin’ outta there with a third eye, maybe an extra limb.” I hear this joke, and its many colorful variations, every time I check Seal’s surf after a rain. As we enter the season of our infamous winter swells, the allure of the waves only grows for every surfer in town. Winter, however, also brings more rainstorms, with the California Department of Water Resources warning of increasing flood risk this year due to climate change-charged weather patterns, giving rise to more frequent occurrences of a surprising danger: the stormwater runoff contaminates our ocean water to such a degree that it’s hazardous to the eager surfers looking to score a sweet ride.
Seal Beach and its ocean have been my home for as long as I can remember. I spent my childhood summers on the beach through M&M surf school and the Junior Lifeguard program. I’ve since become a Seal Beach summer lifeguard, participated in hundreds of hours of ocean-centered community service, and even conducted stormwater quality research in partnership with Poseidon Education.
As locals, we know we should stay shorebound after a storm. The Seal Beach Marine Safety Department recommends staying out of the water for 72 hours after any significant rainfall even in the absence of an OCHA advisory. However, when the surf is firing, it feels irresistible; after all, there’s plenty of saltwater to dilute any contaminants, right? Not according to the double ear infection my brother sustained while testing this hypothesis. Nor my doctor’s case of meningitis.
The concrete data regarding the pollutants in our water is not easily accessible. Despite knowing he shouldn’t have gone out that day, my brother, like so many others, ignorantly believed he couldn’t possibly be affected by some distant contaminant. Without adequate information to foster an understanding of the intangible health hazard, the promise of the surging waves entices many.
While the Orange County Health Care Agency takes data biweekly at four points along our mile of beach, its website provides no further information other than a nondescript green, yellow, or red indicator for the water quality. The small signs warning of increased water pollutants placed at each of the beach’s entrances after heavy rains say nothing about what exactly is in our water and how it got there. To change perspectives, we must first properly educate beachgoers about the risks.
I only realized the magnitude of the issue after I began sifting through numerous research papers and websites. A UCI study determined that stormwater runoff into our sister river, Santa Ana, can result in fecal indicator bacteria concentrations exceeding California ocean bathing water standards by up to 500%. This occurs because our storm drains and sewer systems are linked. Whenever flooding sweeps into and overflows our sewers, all excess is dumped untreated into the storm drains, sending microbe-containing fecal matter into rivers… which eventually flow into the ocean. Our San Gabriel River, which extends fifty-eight miles inland and serves as the watershed for much of Los Angeles, suffers from the same problem.
How can we as a community do our part to spread awareness and protect our beach? Some may argue that meaningful action is impossible. We, admittedly, cannot directly influence the actions of the faraway folks contributing to our problem.
Yet, just as the contents of a toilet flushed in San Bernadino can end up circling our pier, small actions can have far-reaching effects.
Until I took the time to dig for the answers, I never really knew why we shouldn’t surf after a rainstorm. If my brother knew he would be surfing through fecal matter, he’d no doubt have reconsidered.
The little warning signs we post are too vague and don’t generate the discussions necessary to make lasting change.
What if we added a section to our iconic surf-report billboard next to the pier to educate beach-goers, many of whom come from inland, about what exactly they will be swimming in?
Providing the specific bacterial contaminants and their concentrations, along with information on how they got there, will not only help people make informed decisions about whether or not they swim but also spark conversations between people of all ages and walks of life in recognition of how our actions can have far-flung effects.
With Seal Beach receiving nearly 1.5 million visitors each year, such information could indirectly influence the choices of children who grow up and enter careers in public works or business people whose kids whine and complain because they can’t swim on a beautiful day due to recent rain.
At the very least, the modification will help deter others from risking their lives chasing the perfect barrel or pristine shoulder.
You, reading this, can help make that difference. Seal Beach City Council meets every second and fourth Monday of the month at 7 p.m.; OCHA already conducts frequent water-quality checks so updating the billboard would require minimal effort. All we need is your voice to spark the initiative to make that data publicly available and easily accessible.
And, hey, maybe I’ll see you out there “shredding the gnar”—when safe to do so, of course. Surf’s up.
Camden Keller is currently studying at Cornell University, in Ithaca, New York.
