6A • July 31, 2015 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com
By Dani Palmer
Cannon Beach Gazette
The city of Cannon Beach
closed off a portion of its
beach last week after a pump
station quit and spilled 11,000
gallons of untreated sew-
age onto the sand in front of
the Wayfarer Restaurant and
Lounge.
On the morning of July 20,
around 5:30 a.m., the internal
power supply to the Gower
Street pump station’s com-
puter stopped working and
alarms routed through the unit
never went off, Public Works
Director Dan Grassick said.
It was when one of the
city’s Public Works’ employ-
ees walked along the beach
around 7:30 a.m. that the spill
was noticed.
$n emergency overÀ ow
pipe, permitted by design by
the Oregon Department of
Environmental Quality, sent
the sewage onto the beach in-
stead of the middle of town.
“We immediately re-
sponded,” Grassick said. “We
removed about three inches
of sand in the area. It (the
sewage) didn’t go all the way
out to the surf.”
The pump was manually
restarted and Grassick noted
that seven workers, including
himself, were ¿ nished with
cleanup by 1 p.m. that Mon-
day. McEwan Construction as-
sisted with heavy equipment.
It’s that “busy time of
year,” so a couple of Public
Works’ employees were on
vacation, he added.
The area was cornered off,
signs were put up and DEQ
along with the Oregon Emer-
gency Response System were
noti¿ ed about the incident.
No closure needed?
Ecola Creek Watershed
Council Chair Mike Manzu-
lli said warning signs should
have been more clear about
what exactly happened. They
read, “Warning. Contaminat-
ed drainage. No water play.”
“The day of the spill, I
witnessed dogs drinking the
Gower Street water and nu-
merous children playing in
and around the spill area,”
Manzulli said. “When I vis-
ited the site the day after
the spill with City Manager
(Brant) Kucera, we found sig-
nage 100 yards apart so that
there was no way to know the
site may still be contaminated
when walking north on the
beach.”
Grassick noted that they
did put out more signs after
speaking with Manzulli.
The watershed chair said
the city should have “closed
the beach until the outfall wa-
ter tested safe” and informed
the public about the spill.
There weren’t any notices
posted on the city’s website
or elsewhere, Grassick said,
because the beach didn’t need
to be closed.
The area was “adequate-
ly signed,” he said, and the
contaminated water was only
about an inch deep and didn’t
make it out to the ocean. It
went about 200 yards before
ending in the sand.
A tale of two tests
The city tested samples
from the affected portion
of the beach daily, and by
Wednesday, numbers were
below state health advisory
levels, Grassick said.
To err on the side of cau-
tion, staff waited until Friday
to take signs down, when the
sand had 144 organisms per
100 milliliters of water.
Going by freshwater stan-
dards, running an E. coli test,
the state threshold is 406 or-
ganisms.
When the city tested the
water on Monday, right after
the spill and before cleanup,
E. coli results were “maxed
out” at 2,400 organisms.
Those numbers began to
drop rapidly the next day,
after cleanup was complete,
Grassick added.
The Surfrider Foundation
ran enterococcus tests, ¿ nd-
ing 3,130 organisms per 100
milliliters on the beach, 132
in the outfall and 10 in the
ocean on Tuesday.
That health advisory level
is 158 organisms per 100 mil-
liliters.
Grassick said the entero-
coccus and E. coli tests are
different with separate thresh-
olds. The enterococcus test is
the standard for marine water
and the E. coli test for fresh-
water.
Thomas Lossen with the
Oregon Beach Monitoring
Program said a public advi-
sory would have been issued
discouraging water contact
had the contaminated water
met the ocean.
With the enterococcus
test, Grassick said the level
was below the threshold in
the outfall, but “sky high” on
the beach.
Factors such as the water
sitting under the hot sun with
seagulls depositing fecal mat-
ter into it may have made the
enterococcus bacteria multi-
ple, hiking its test results, he
said.
The challenge, Grassick
noted, is differentiating the
growth from a true contam-
ination issue that’s a health
concern or a natural process.
“Therein lies the dilemma we
have,” he said.
Not generally harmful
themselves, the presence of
enterococci and E. coli may
indicate pathogenic bacte-
ria that can cause short-term
health effects, such as diar-
rhea, cramps and nausea if
ingested, according to the US
Environmental
Protection
Agency.
It could’ve been worse
“It’s serious anytime you
spill sewage,” Grassick said,
but he added that it was a mi-
nor amount “relatively speak-
ing.”
If the incident had gone
unnoticed for several hours
more, there could’ve been
tens of thousands of gallons
spilled, he added. In 2008,
DEQ ¿ ned Cannon Beach
$1,365 for the discharge of
85,000 gallons of untreat-
ed sewage onto the beach.
That spill resulted in a tem-
porary beach closure and
was caused by failure of an
air compressor at a facility
pump station.
A portion of it eventually
reached the Paci¿ c Ocean
with the tide.
“11,000 gallons of raw
sewage may be a minor
amount to Dan Grassick, but
for those of us that cherish
our health and coastal natural
resources, raw sewage in our
streams and on our beaches
is a very big deal,” Manzulli
said.
Randy Bailey, an inspec-
tor for the Cannon Beach
Sewage Treatment Plant
with DEQ’s Water Quality
Division, said DEQ has re-
quested a follow-up report on
the cause and will determine
whether any enforcement ac-
tion needs to be taken.
Grassick said no one on
staff was around when this
particular pump station’s
warning system was de-
signed, so it’ll be changed to
an alarm independent of the
station’s computer unit to pre-
vent similar incidents in the
future.
‘We immediately responded. We removed about three inches of
sand in the area. It (the sewage) didn’t go all the way out to the surf.’
Public Works Director Dan Grassick
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July 12
July 16
12:17 a.m. 1400 block of
South Hemlock Street: assault.
David V. Thorne, 67, of Sidney,
British Columbia, was arrested
for assault IV, intentionally or reck-
lessly causing physical injury to
another, and transported to the
Clatsop County Jail.
July 14
6:15 a.m. Fifth and Fir Streets:
suspicious circumstances. After
further investigation, a subject
was found operating a vehicle
without an ID, insurance or reg-
istration. Due to the vehicle not
being mobile during contact, a
warning was given to fi x all is-
sues before traveling down the
roadway.
July 15
12:41 a.m. Highway 101 and
Warren Way: driving under the in-
fl uence. Sheila R. Leftwich, 22, of
Portland, provided a BAC of 0.10
and was preliminarily charged
with DUII and an unlawful or un-
signaled turn.
9:33 p.m. 100 block of
North Hemlock Street: animal
complaint. Police received re-
port of a dog bite. The victim
was taken to Providence Sea-
side Hospital by family and the
dog was released to the owner.
A bite form was faxed to the
county.
July 17
1:48 p.m. Hemlock Street
and Coolidge Avenue: suspicious
circumstances. Police received
report of a stranger pulling up
beside a pedestrian, following
her slowly, rolling down his win-
dow and stating, “I wouldn’t run
from me if I were you.” An offi cer
placed a note on the window of
the unoccupied suspect truck, re-
questing he make contact with
the police to advise his intent in
contact with the female.
refused to pay the amount for cab
fare. He and the cab driver came
to a civil compromise.
for DUII and driving uninsured.
He refused to take a breathlyzer
and was later released.
July 18
July 19
2:33 p.m. 400 block of Fir
Street: theft of services.
6:11 p.m. Warren Way and
Hemlock Street: A subject was
cited for driving uninsured and
no operators license. The vehicle
was impounded.
10:31 p.m. 600 block of
Beech Street: driving under the
infl uence. Gary A. Herman, 48,
of Cannon Beach, was arrested
1:00 p.m. Spruce and Ad-
ams Streets: accident. An offi cer
responded to a motor vehicle
crash.
1:54 p.m. First and Hemlock
Streets: assistance rendered. A
subject felt someone may have
tampered with the bike lock se-
curing his family’s bicycles to a
rack. The code wasn’t working
and the lock appeared bent.
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