April 21, 2017 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com • 7A
EPA tightens
water quality
standards
to surface waters include
wastewater treatment plants,
on-site septic systems, domes-
tic and wild animal manure,
and storm runoff, according
to the EPA.
In July 2015, a sewage leak
led to a high spike in bacteria
readings in the Ecola Creek
Watershed. In general, Cannon
Beach has a history of high
bacteria test results, especially
after rain washes waterways
out, said Ryan Cruse, field co-
ordinator for Surfrider’s Blue
Water Task Force.
By Brenna Visser
Cannon Beach Gazette
Beachgoers on the North
Coast could possibly see an
increase in the number of
beach advisories issued this
summer.
Each summer, selected
beaches are monitored for
bacteria by the Oregon Beach
Monitoring Program. But an
increase in bacteria readings
on the beach won’t necessar-
ily be the cause for the rise in
advisories. Rather, a change
in national standards may lead
to more local alerts.
The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency recently
tightened the marine recre-
ational water quality standard
used to determine if bacteria
levels are unsafe for water
contact, according to the Or-
egon Health Authority.
Since the Oregon Beach
Monitoring Program started
in 2004, standards for measur-
ing bacteria, known as BAV
— beach action value — has
been 158 mpn, or most prob-
able number, a testing method
used to estimate the number
of colony forming units of
bacteria in water samples.
Starting this summer, that
value will drop significant-
ly to 70 mpn, Oregon Public
Health Division Program Co-
ordinator Tara Chetock said.
Chetock said the beach
monitoring program lowered
the value after EPA studies
on a fund that relies heavily
on hotel and rental room tax
revenue.
“During the recession, the
general fund was treading
water,” he said. “It fluctuates,
which you don’t want when
you are in the middle of a
project.”
The rate increase is a way
to prove to lenders the city has
a way to pay its operational
and capital costs when apply-
ing for a revenue bond, Gras-
sick said.
He said this approach
would mean revenue paid
from the rates would be guar-
anteed to go to public works
related projects rather than
paying down interest passed
on to residents in the shape of
property tax on debt from a
general bond.
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Generally clean
CANNON BEACH GAZETTE/FILE PHOTO
The Cannon Beach Public Works Department posted signs
to notify beachgoers of a sewage spill in July 2015. The city
was fined $1,800 as a result.
showed stricter standards can
help reduce illness as a result
of accidental ingestion of bac-
teria contaminated water.
“It’s important to note that
when the EPA is looking at
water quality standards, they
are also looking at places like
Miami and California where
the water is warmer and more
people are in the water all
time,” Chetock said. “The
standard was established con-
sidering all beaches.”
In general, Chetock said,
Oregon beaches are not where
people are getting sick, but
the change was made in the
interest of public health.
Too cold
Most periods of the year,
water on the North Coast is
usually too cold for swim-
mers.
According to Surfrider
Foundation, an environmen-
tal nonprofit that tracks water
bacteria, there have been no
recent self-reported illnesses
on the North Coast.
The Oregon Health Au-
thority’s Beach Monitoring
Program is inviting public
comment through May 8 on
a list of beaches it is propos-
ing to monitor this summer,
which currently lists Seaside,
Tolovana and Cannon Beach
as suggestions. The three
beaches have been tested mul-
tiple times and rank highly on
the list due to the large num-
ber of users in the summer,
Chetock said.
Sources of contamination
While Surfrider cannot is-
sue advisories like the beach
management program, Cruse
said based on their data Can-
non Beach has maintained
generally clean readings since
2015.
With the change in EPA
regulations however, Cruse
said he could see the number
of advisories increasing as
well as the amount of testing
required.
“If the OBMP is ending
up with more advisories, they
will have to be doing a lot
more testing than in the past
because they will need to go
back and test as soon as they
can after an advisory to eval-
uate whether or not it needs to
be kept,” Cruse said.
He also noted that Surfrider
is concerned with national lev-
el budget cuts within the EPA,
and what affect that will have
on research and public health.
“If funding goes away,
there will be a lot less infor-
mation out there to address
these issues,” Cruse said.
Water rates hike put on back burner
Water from Page 1A
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It would also eliminate com-
petition between public works
and other services in town that
pull from the general fund.
But each year the city
doesn’t approve a rate increase,
the further behind public works
gets on infrastructure projects,
he said.
“This plan is the meat and
potatoes of public works,” he
said. “We’re engineers. We like
to build stuff.”
If adopted, high priority
projects chosen would be in-
cluded in the 2017-18 budget
and be constructed over the
course of five to seven years.
Bertellotti said the rates
need to be explained in a way
the average resident in Can-
non Beach “can understand
how much they are paying and
what it is for.”
Les Wierson, another
member of the committee,
also suggested proposing a
tax levy to fund the number of
high priority projects listed in
the plan.
“I’m not sure it’s worth
spending this amount at an ac-
celerated rate. This looks like
we are replacing an entire sys-
tem, and I don’t think we need
to do that,” Wierson said.
Both Wierson and Ber-
tellotti advocated for finding
opportunities to rehab projects
rather than full replacements.
Grassick said that the mas-
ter plan is a living document,
and that priority projects
would be evaluated every two
years or so.
“You can kick the can down
the road, but the issues will still
be there,” Grassick said.
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