‘God knows what’s in the water’: Los Angeles surfers in limbo as wildfire toxins linger | Los Angeles

ALex Sinunu has been used Surfing Three or four times a week in the Gulf of Santa Monica – after all, the beach was only one mile from his home and could ride his bike there with his board. But since the huge parts that were sweetened through the severity of the adjacent Pacific in early January were swept. The ocean was filled with ash and debris – And endless questions.

The massive fire Thousands of homes consumed And other structures, many of them are on the edge of the Pacific Coast. Subsequent rainy storms sent tons of laundry debris in the ocean, turned to water brown and sparked fears of toxins that could come from all the remains of buildings and charred cars-including asbestos, lithium ion batteries and plastic.

There is also no single salad responsible for maintaining the health of the ocean, which made the audience’s beach informing a challenge, creating constant uncertainty when it is safe to return to water.

In a city where surfing was a means of life, it was waiting for everything painful. Sinunu is part of a local browsing group called Surfcats, and they feel pain. The ocean is very close, but so far. “It will be like living in mammoth and the inability to ski in the winter,” he says. California Mountains.

Not only is the wreckage that washed on the beach. Sinunu is also concerned about what is lying in the waves. He says: “My anxiety melts Tesla juice.” “There is only God knows what is in the water. I am looking for some data.”

He and other surfers were traveling far and wide in search of safer water for rowing – he was leading north to Malibu or south to Manhattan Beach to get his repair, where others ventures to Vintera, about 60 miles (97 km).

Surf Group explores other options for outdoor suspense – discuss the pickled ball, some of them go skiing. But it is not the same, and depression has settled on the group. “We get to know my surfers, and I have a surfing board on the wall, and this is our atmosphere.”

“Anonymous Zone”

After months of questions, there is now a glimmer of optimism. This week, Heal the Bay is issued by the local non -profit company a report Show the results of the ocean samples in 10 sites along the Bay of Santa Monica, which is located below the Palisades neighborhood. They show that immediately after the fires, the water quality was better than expected – but there are still risks to marine mammals, fish and other creatures in the food chain.

Gulf employees and regional water agency have tested the ocean of 116 pollutants known in multiple locations in January and February. They found high levels of a few pollutants: bellium and Pahs, both of which are linked to burned plants. They were both less than the limits set for human health.

The news is welcome in the beach community. Sharon Chaveer, the first black woman to become a professional browser, looks at the beach in front of her home in Playa del Rey on another day of March. The beach looks vacant: neither surfing, nor volleyball players. “The life of the beach has stopped in Los Angeles, and for a person like me, the beach is my life,” she says.

“The fact that I was unable to browse this year locally, except for sitting, is very painful,” she says. “The only way I get is if I travel to the waves, this is very stressful and frustrated.”

Shafir decided to go out one day to browse her in front of her house in February; Although the water was brown and there was a floating wreck, it could not prevent itself from picking up some good waves. But the next day, she says, I felt severe from influenza -like symptoms.

Dylan Sungen, director of the waves program at the Aqua Surf School, says he moved all lessons to the south in the Gulf of Santa Monica, where there are more assurances about water quality. He was frustrated by the lack of clear guidelines and visual cleaning efforts in the past two months.

“This is a completely unknown area,” he says. “No one salad is about what to do when you can go to water. There is not much certainty that is served for how safe it will be safe.”

When will it be safe?

Tris Quinn, CEO of Heal the Bay, says it is true that there is no precedent for this position. For example, there are no existing protocols of what to be tested – and how to tested – after urban fire fires.

Make countless unknown practical. No research was conducted before the fires to create basic levels of pollutants such as heavy metals in the ocean, and there are no levels determined by public health officials for what is safe for entertainment. There were guidelines for pollutants levels in local fish for eating, and drinking water – “but it is unlikely to drink 64 ounces of ocean water,” says Quinn.

The Gulf healing had to bring their own methodology. They have identified 116 heavy minerals for testing – including lead, arsenic and zinc, as well as PAHS and PCBS – a group of chemicals banned in 1979 due to the toxicity that is still present in old coolers, lubricants and insulating materials.

The group is still trying to understand all the results. Queen says they saw the highest concentrations near the burning area, but there were also sudden mutations in other locations, such as the Santa Monica berth, 6 miles south of the burning area, and in the Dukuelir Beach, 10 miles south on the coast.

Part of the problem is that the debris is still washing in the ocean of 300 homes located directly on the beach in Palisades and Malibu. Quinn says that these houses are burned and fell to the beach – and homeowners of 145 of them either did not choose to clean, or they chose explicitly.

Is it safe to return to the beach for a day of surfing, ascending to dance, swimming or drilling? The answer is not clear, as Quinn says. “We cannot be final, but I say that we are optimistic at the moment,” she says.

Despite the remaining questions, the surfers of hope. Sohngen says he has a lot of confidence in the elasticity of the ocean and the beach, and that the Gulf was generally vibrant, given that it is located near the Mega area of ​​10 million people. “We are lucky to have this amazing ecosystem very soon,” he says.

The danger has not ended yet, and the tests showed annoying signs of the larger ecological system. Eight heavy metals, including lead and copper, are found to be higher than the boundaries of marine animal health. These pollutants can move around the food network and affect everything from microorganisms to the sea.

Gulf Quinn’s shell says that the events related to the climate have become more likely, and hopes that the lessons here will help other societies in the future. “We were not the first, and certainly we will not be the last community to deal with this,” she says.

Sinono says he is a fan of the test results, but he will wait a few other weeks before returning to water near his home – just to be safe. Meanwhile, he was reading books and trying to find other activities, but none of them scratches the same itching in his brain. He says: “Surfing equipment, surf stores, driving to the waves, talking about it,” the culture of surfing is a large part of life here. “