Eric Van Vlack warily walks the concrete ledge leading to the stormwater outfall pipe as if it is a tightrope, balancing a stick with a jar at the end of it.
There’s a pool of water collecting below him before it makes its way to the ocean and Van Vlack wants to be careful not to fall in. He leans over to the pipe that juts out of the Nye Beach turnaround parking lot and dips the stick’s jar-end into the flowing water.
Surfrider Foundation volunteer Eric Van Vlack prepares to take a water sample at the Nye Creek pipe outfall that will be tested for fecal bacteria. Over the past year, less than 30 percent of the samples taken in the past year at Nye Creek met state water quality standards.
Shayla Escudero / Lincoln Chronicle
Then he will take the sample back to a room inside the Oregon Coast Aquarium not much bigger than a closet, where he and other Surfrider Foundation volunteers who are part of the blue water task force perform water quality tests every two weeks at 14 locations in and around Newport.
Over the past year, less than 30 percent of the samples taken at the Nye Creek outfall meet state water quality standards, the Surfrider tests show.
Nye Beach has generated high bacterial readings off and on for years and in June the Oregon Health Authority issued an advisory for unsafe levels of fecal bacteria at Nye Beach. The summer before that, OHA issued advisories in July and September.
There are a number of things that can lead to high bacteria readings. The first fall rains usually lead to high levels as water washes streets and rooftops that have accumulated bird and animal feces during the summer. The high levels can also be due to illegal dumping or cross-connections between the city of Newport’s sewage collection system and its stormwater pipes.
Whatever the source, the problem remains – water with unhealthy bacteria levels with the potential to make people sick is making its way directly into the ocean.
Surfrider volunteers have advocated for more testing and transparency of the city’s actions to address water quality issues.
In late September, the city announced its plans to address high bacteria levels at the pipe outfall in Nye Beach. While Surfrider members are encouraged by the communication, they still have lingering questions.
Surfrider volunteers add a solution to water samples that detects Enterococcus, a type of fecal bacteria, and the samples in an incubator for 24 hours before placing them under a black light to see how much if any bacteria was in the water. The bright glow means a high presence of bacteria.
Shayla Escudero / Lincoln Chronicle
Testing
Back in the lab, Surfrider volunteers place water samples into a tray, add a solution that detects Enterococcus, a type of fecal bacteria, seal the samples and a control group and keep them in an incubator for 24 hours before placing them under a black light to see how much – if any – fecal bacteria is in the water.
“Yup, it’s glowing, that means there is a presence of bacteria,” volunteer Skye Whitney says as she points to the tray of squares giving off a bright blue fluorescence.
She pulls out a chart and does a computation to measure how much bacteria was found. The tests look for the post probable number, a statistical technique to estimate the concentration of microorganisms in a sample.
Anything over 130 is considered a high amount of bacteria and the latest water quality reading taken in late September was 233. The month before that, water quality tests measured higher than 1,500. Over the past six months, readings have been consistently high.
In the two decades that Surfrider has been collecting samples at Nye Beach, it has had more readings that fall below health standards than readings that meet them.
Water samples collected by Surfrider volunteers also include notes on the temperature and other weather conditions. The volunteers have been collecting water quality data for decades, long before there was a statewide program.
Shayla Escudero / Lincoln Chronicle
Surfrider’s Newport chapter has been testing the water quality of Newport’s beaches for nearly 30 years, before there was a statewide program. The effort came after Surfrider Foundation senior Oregon policy manager Charlie Plybon found himself in the hospital with a bacterial infection and learned he got it from surfing in Newport-area waters.
At the time, there was no statewide program to test water quality and issue advisories when there are high bacteria levels. So Plybon started Surfrider’s Newport chapter of the Blue Water Task Force, where volunteers monitored the water themselves.
Then in 2000, the federal Beach Act passed, allowing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to disperse money to states to monitor beaches for bacteria. Oregon’s beach monitoring program began in 2002 as a partnership with the Department of Environmental Quality and the Oregon Health Authority.
Now, between Memorial Day and Labor Day, the state tests Nye Beach and 24 other Oregon beaches. Surfrider tests more frequently throughout the year.
The list of beaches DEQ monitors includes some of the state’s most frequently visited beaches, areas where the program has found high levels of bacteria in the past, and beaches where local partners and the public have requested monitoring due to potential pollution concerns.
The Surfrider Foundation has expressed concern to the city of Newport about high bacteria levels at the Nye Creek pipe outfall, which sits at the end of the Nye Beach turnaround parking lot and flows into the ocean.
Shayla Escudero / Lincoln Chronicle
A problem site
Nye Beach’s high bacteria levels have gained it an official designation of “impaired” under the Clean Water Act and earned it a spot on Oregon’s Section 303d list, which details problematic Oregon waterways including Cannon Beach, D-River Beach in Lincoln City, Tillamook Bay, Big Creek in Newport and other locations.
“Nye Beach is an area of concern because, over the years, monitoring at Nye Beach has shown multiple elevated levels of enterococcus, an indicator of fecal bacteria,” said DEQ public affairs specialist Dylan Darling. “We also evaluate how many people visit a beach and could be exposed. The combination of how many people visit Nye Beach and the frequency of elevated fecal bacteria results make it an area of concern.”
Although the state tests Nye Beach during warmer months, Surfrider tests year-round about every two weeks. High bacteria levels in the summer tend to be the most concerning since that is when there are more beachgoers – surfers in the water and even children playing close to the outfall.
This summer, the Oregon Health Authority issued an advisory from June 9-12. An advisory is lifted once a test comes back with low levels.
“The data sheet notes heavy rain on June 8, the day before the advisory, which may have resulted in stormwater runoff,” Darling said.
Water quality can vary greatly day to day, Plybon said, and by the time a test result comes back the water quality can change for the worse or better from when it was tested.
“Really the tests say, don’t go in the water yesterday,” Plybon said. “What’s more important than the testing is what can be done to fix it.”
Seeking collaboration
Over the years there have been different things causing the high bacteria levels. About 20 years ago Surfrider and the city found out that 23 homes had sewer lines connected to the storm drain line, so sewage was going directly through the storm system and into the ocean.
It isn’t always something connected to city infrastructure, Plybon said, but usually the city would help with whatever the problem was. They’ve installed signs and passed an ordinance against bird feeding.
Now, Surfrider is hoping to have that level of collaboration again.
In August, half a dozen Surfrider volunteers attended a city council meeting to address their concerns about water quality. They asked the city for follow-up testing and a routine infrastructure investigation.
They also asked the city to perform a microbial source identification study to track if the bacteria belonged to humans or animals, which would help identify if the issue is related to infrastructure or something else. Surfrider also asked the city to improve public transparency and education.
“This is an issue that we’ve been able to work with the city on,” Plybon said at the meeting.
“We’ve gone through a lot of different leadership at the city. We’ve gone through hard financial times at the city … We’re not afraid of big problems, what we’re afraid of is not having people working on it or a clear understanding,” Plybon said. “I believe the city cares. I believe the city and our staff cares about this issue. I know a lot of our staff members here, but we’re not getting the same kind of communication that we used to get.”
On Sept. 8 the Newport city council held an executive (closed) session to consult with its attorney concerning potential litigation.
A plan
On Sept. 21, the city responded to Surfrider’s request by publicly sharing its plans, which included permanent weekly testing at Nye Beach and five other locations upstream.
“The goal is to identify potential sources of bacteria entering the stormwater system, take corrective action when sources are identified, educate the community about ways to protect stormwater quality, and monitor results over time to measure the effectiveness of the city’s efforts,” the city announced in a press release.
When elevated bacteria levels are identified, the city said staff will trace the results upstream and investigate individual branches of the drainage network. If a source is identified, the city will determine the appropriate corrective action which could be repairing sewer mains, sealing defective manhole covers or correcting pump connections, depending on the circumstances.
The plan also calls for increased community education and outreach on topics such as preventing illegal dumping into storm drains, proper pet waste and RV disposal, according to the plan.
“Some potential sources of bacteria are outside the city’s regulatory control, which makes expanding community education an important part of this plan,” said city manager Nina Vetter.
The community can help by disposing pet waste properly, keeping trash away from storm drains, properly disposing RV sewage and wastewater and preventing and reporting illegal dumping, she said.
Plybon still has some questions about the city’s plans including access to its test results and the results of its microbial source tracking study. The nonprofit has scheduled time with the city to get their questions answered.
“The Surfrider Foundation Newport Chapter is pleased to see the city is motivated to establish a long-term plan for sourcing and mitigating chronic bacteria issues at Nye Beach,” Plybon said. “We do still have some important questions about the study design, collaboration and communication with the community on this effort, but we applaud the city on this important first step in the health of our local beaches.”
Shayla Escudero is a reporter with the Lincoln Chronicle newsroom. This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.
It is part of OPB’s broader effort to ensure that everyone in our region has access to quality journalism that informs, entertains and enriches their lives. To learn more, visit our journalism partnerships page.
