The Scoop on Your Poop and Oregon Beaches

Fri, November 4, 2005

The following article was written by Charlie Plybon to describe efforts towards cooperation between the Surfrider Foundation Oregon Chapter and Newport's Oregon Coast Aquarium. More volunteers are need to continue this program.

The Scoop on Your Poop and Oregon Beaches

It seems that our society has historically had fears of the ocean for one reason or another. Whether it’s a realistic fear like sneaker waves or rip tides or something less rational like some slobbering sea serpent, humans have created a colorful cornucopia of seagoing suspicions. But lately, the coastal creeps have come in the form of beach advisories, contaminated water, and an overall surmise of the health of water contact. So what’s the source for this polluted beach water? Well, our poop of course.

Yes it’s true; our own poop is often responsible for the state beach advisories that were the buzz on the beach this past summer. At this point you may be thinking, “I don’t poop on the beach!” In a round about way, you do. You see, our sewage goes a couple of places. It either goes into a septic tank and then into the ground, or it goes into a sewer system, both of which eventually lead to the ocean. One way or another everything ends up back in the ocean. We just hope that by the time it gets there it has been properly treated and broken down; hence sewage treatment plants, activated septic tanks, etc. This treatment generally eliminates the harmful bacteria associated with human waste and makes it acceptable to release this grey water back into the environment. When these systems and treatments fail, we end up with high bacteria levels in coastal nearshore environments, threatening the health of beachgoers, pets, and wildlife.

Relatively speaking, the Oregon coast has pretty clean water. The state tests selected beaches rotationally throughout the year and posts advisories when the bacteria levels are high. These advisories are extremely infrequent when we compare our nearshore water quality to that of California. But comparing our waters to a state that has more people in its largest city than we have in the entire state would be a little irresponsible. Being one of the last states with relatively slow coastal development, it is our responsibility to learn from other states and prevent the ocean contamination that often accompanies growth and overdevelopment.

Just over a year ago, the Oregon Coast Aquarium’s youth volunteers and The Surfrider Foundation teamed up to create a Blue Water Task Force to monitor water quality along a 20-mile stretch of coastline from Ona Beach to Otter Rock. Surfrider volunteers drop off the water samples at the Aquarium each weekend and the samples are run for Enterococcus counts. Enterococcus is the EPA adopted indicator bacteria for human waste. With the assistance of an Aquarium staff member, the youth volunteers are able to perform, incubate, and read the test results. The results are posted locally at two different surf shops in Newport, within the Aquarium, and on the Surfrider website (http://www.surfrider.org/bwtf/BWTFoutput.asp).

The Aquarium’s youth volunteers felt it was important to monitor specific local areas year round that the state doesn’t currently test or tests less frequently. Although the results cannot create an advisory, they are sent to the state and taken seriously. If we get high results, the state will send someone out for an official sample. Our tests also create baseline data, which helps in the annual selection of state sample sites. So save your seagoing suspicions for the slobbering sea serpent, the Aquarium’s test results for the Newport area this summer only once exceeded the state’s advisory levels (see chart below for a summary of the summer results). For more information or to find out how you can be involved contact Charlie Plybon via Email at charlie.plybon@aquarium.org.