Public Safety

State Resumes Paying For Beach Water Testing in San Diego County

By Ed Joyce / Reporter

Published July 10, 2009 at 1:50 PM PDT

This story was published more than 15 years ago.

California has resumed funding of beach water monitoring in San Diego County this year despite the state budget crisis. But it's uncertain whether the program will get state money next summer.

California has resumed funding of beach water monitoring in San Diego County this year despite the state budget crisis, but it's uncertain whether the program will get state money next summer.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger eliminated the state funding in San Diego and 14 other coastal counties last September because of the state budget crisis, so San Diego County paid for limited testing at 19 beach areas.

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County Supervisor Greg Cox says California will now reimburse the county and pay for testing through June of next year at 44 beach and bay locations.

However, Cox says the state may not fund the program next summer.

"So that's why we're working with the various cities and the water treatment agencies to try to figure out a long-term funding scheme and hopefully we'll have that in place and/or we can identify other state money to continue this program," Cox says.

The state has funded the program since 1999.

Thousands of people visit San Diego beaches each year.

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The ocean testing helps alert swimmers when it's not safe to swim.

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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