Water tests get EPA’s attention

Federal officials paid a visit to Laguna Beach High School recently, but they weren’t there to check on the school’s spinach quality. They were more concerned with the ocean’s water quality.

The school’s Surfrider Club has quietly been conducting weekly ocean water-quality testing, and the Environmental Protection Agency has taken notice.

After presenting an Environmental Achievement Award to the club this spring, representatives from the agency returned to observe how the students perform their testing.

Club president Marshall Thomas greeted EPA Regional Administrator Wayne Nastri and his colleague, press representative Leo Kay, during the club’s weekly sample testing, performed in the school’s science lab every Tuesday.

During the testings, approximately 20 students gather samples from sites located throughout the city’s beaches.

“Often, they’re testing right in front of their houses,” said teacher and advisor Art Smart.

They bring the samples to the school the same day, where they test for enterococcus bacteria.

To conduct the test, each student mixes their water sample with distilled water, adds a bacteria food known as entrolert, and puts it in a sealed tray, where it’s stored in an incubator for 24 hours. The amount of fluorescence in the water after this period indicates the amount of water contamination. After the results are noted the next day, Thomas posts them on the Surfrider Club’s website and makes flyers for the community.

“The beaches are usually clean everywhere, but runoff areas like Aliso [Creek] often are contaminated,” Thomas said. He added that levels can be high everywhere for up to 72 hours following rain.

Mary Trout, a student tester, recalled some of her tests that revealed high contamination.

“You cringe,” she said. “You never want to get in the water again.”

After the EPA representatives viewed the testing process, Thomas showed them a packed blue binder, filled with years of testing results, a club constitution, rosters, methodologies and other materials.

“What Marshall’s doing at this level is remarkable,” Kay said. “We want to learn what’s he’s up to, to promote this great project.”

The EPA presented plaques to three dozen organizations and individuals throughout the Pacific Southwest at its eighth annual ceremony in April, including Willie Nelson (who opened the first biodiesel station in the state) and Clif Bar.

The high school’s Surfrider Club was selected from more than 160 nominees, and honored for its testing and posting results for public access.

“I’ve been to a number of different programs in different states, and this is the only one where the school and kids are so involved in testing,” Nastri said.

The club was started in 2001 by Thomas’s sister, Margaux. Marshall recalls going on trips with her to collect water samples before she had any help from other students.

“She would stop at different sites and leave the car running,” Thomas said. “I would jump out and get test samples.”

When she graduated, Thomas took on the club’s presidency.

“I felt the same passion she did,” he said.

Five years on, the club of one that Margaux started has expanded to substantial levels. About 30 students met on Tuesday to sign up for test sites in Smart’s classroom, which was plastered with ecological bumper stickers and signs.

For some, it seemed like an easy way to fulfill required community service hours, but others had already participated in other community testing days.

At the beginning of each year, interest in being a water tester is high, Thomas said. But many students become unable to participate throughout the year due to extracurricular commitments, so a core group of 20 to 25 students visits the sites week after week.

Thomas, a senior, plans to study environmental science or biology, but hasn’t chosen a career path yet. He has applied to a host of schools, including several UC campuses, Columbia, Brown and Northwestern.

He’s also considering the future of the program he and his sister have developed into a thriving club. He has two freshmen in mind as potential successors when he graduates.

“Hopefully it’ll carry on,” he said.

To view the LBHS Surfrider Club’s weekly water-quality results, visit www.surfrider.org/lagunabeach/ waterquality.