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# Health officials warning swimmers to stay strong, steer clear of the water
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/health-officials-warning-swimmers-to-stay-strong-steer-clear-of-the-water/
- Published: 2005-01-19T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T06:01:21.000Z
- Author: John Wood
- Tags: Health, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*Stepping into liquid not recommended for a while*

Beachgoers beware: The lure of warm weather and rising surf should be weighed against possible side effects like vomiting, diarrhea, skin rashes and sinus infections.

Health officials on Tuesday cautioned swimmers and surfers against rushing back to the ocean after this month’s deluge, saying bacteria levels are still dangerously high and may stay that way for several more days.

“We normally say wait three days to go in the water after a rainstorm, but these were extremely heavy storms,” said Shelley Luce, a science and policy director for Heal the Bay, a nonprofit organization that tracks water quality levels. “It was a storm that lasted a long time. It really saturated all the ground and it created a lot of runoff, and then the water’s been quite calm since then.”

Despite the filthy water, the recent run of warm weather combined with rising swell has lured many beachgoers back into the depths.

“I’ve been down here every day,” said Dylan Hutchins, 29, a set decorator whose girlfriend lives in Santa Monica. “I came here the day after the storm and saw Raid cans and tampons littered across the sand. Normally, I go in the water no matter how cold it is, no matter what time of year.”

Hutchins said he waited until Monday to venture back into the sea. He was taken aback by news of the ongoing water warning.

“It seems relatively clean,” he said, after surfing just south of the Pico storm drain runoff. “It’s lost that sewagey smell as well as that pesticidey smell that was heavy duty, that was just choking any passerby.”

Though the water quality has improved substantially in the last week, Luce suggested allowing a few more tidal cycles to pass before venturing back into the sea. She said a new beach “report card” would be issued later this week. Bacteria levels are tested daily in the summer and twice weekly in the winter.

“I think the people who are surfing right now are taking a big chance of getting sick,” said Luce, 33, a surfer who lives in Venice. “For some people it’s worth it, but they may be laid up with vomiting and diarrhea for a few days.”

As to the old theory, popular in surfing circles, that beach veterans develop an immunity to the ills of the water, Luce wasn’t convinced.

“I would say it is possible for that to happen... but the Los Angeles basin has a big drainage area with a lot of people introducing new strains of viruses and bacteria that you may not have been exposed to,” Luce said Tuesday. “But I’m sure it makes people feel better to say that themselves.”

Not everyone was rushing back to the water Tuesday. Randy Wright, 42, owner of Horizons West surf shop on Main Street, took his remote control surfer “Skeltor” to the beach rather than get wet himself.

“It’s a perfect day for going surfing, but I wouldn’t do it,” Wright said. “It’s taking too much of a chance... When you’re young or just getting into surfing, you don’t care about the water pollution or what the lifeguards tell you, but then, after you get some years under your belt, you realize it’s not worth it.

“It’s like a toilet out there — and it flushed, big time.”

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/011905-02_01-8.jpg)

DIRTY WATER: ‘Skeltor,’ a remote-controlled surfer steered by Horizons West surf shop owner Randy Wright, charges out towards the lineup Tuesday afternoon. (Photo: John Wood/Daily Press)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 19, 2005.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/011905.pdf?ref=smdp.com)