Citizens Concerned About Contamination At Nye Beach

Charlie Plybon providing public comment to the Newport City Council

Newport residents and Surf Rider volunteers pressed the Newport City council during public comment, to act on persistent bacterial contamination at the Nye Beach stormwater outfall, warning that high levels of fecal indicator bacteria are an ongoing public health risk at one of the community’s most popular beaches.

Speaking during public comment at the Newport City Council meeting, several members of the local Surf Rider chapter and other residents described years of volunteer monitoring, increasingly alarming test results, and frustration over what they see as a breakdown in communication and follow‑through by the city.

Melanie Bukovec, who coordinates the Blue Water Task Force program for the Newport Surf Rider chapter, said the group now samples 14 sites from Otter Rock to Seal Rock every other Saturday, year‑round. Nye Beach’s pipe outfall near the turnaround, she said, is consistently one of the worst.

“This site nearly always gets flagged for high bacteria levels,” Bukovec told the council. “Eight of the nine most recent samples were over what DEQ considers high bacteria level of 130 mpn per 100 milliliters. Most notably, on July 11th, results were over 10,000 mpn. That’s 80 times higher than what DEQ considers high bacteria.”

Bukovec said she frequently sees children and pets playing in the stream that flows from the pipe into the ocean, even as test results show elevated contamination. She asked the city to restore what used to be a more active partnership.

“Previously, we had a line of communication open with the city where we would notify them of high bacteria results, and they would respond with the steps that they were taking. We would like that to resume,” she said. “This is critical for us to inform the public… and for our own understanding that the city is acting.”

Water quality lab manager and Surf Rider volunteer Sky Whitney reinforced those concerns, noting that since March all of the chapter’s samples at the Nye Beach outfall have exceeded public health standards.

“These high levels of bacteria increase the health risks from recreating in those water sources, which is really concerning at a place like Nye Beach, that is so highly visited by tourists and the public,” Whitney said. “The public deserves to know what is in the waters that they are recreating in.”

Whitney said it is difficult to repeatedly deliver bad news to volunteers and the public without clear evidence of follow‑up. “One of the major challenges that I face… is having to consistently report high readings without any follow‑up about what’s being done to remedy the situation,” she said, calling for secondary testing, a source‑identification plan focused first on the Nye Beach outfall, and stronger collaboration with city staff. “We are all here today because we care about this problem and know that this is something important to the city as well.”

Former Blue Water Task Force coordinator and Surf Rider newsletter editor Vince Papalardo told the council that earlier efforts between the city and volunteers seemed to improve conditions for a time – but recent data show the problem worsening.

“In those years following, there seemed to be a pretty good decrease in the amount of high readings that we saw,” he said. “But the data that I’m looking at now over the last couple of years is a definite increase, and that worries me as a resident of Newport.”

Surf Rider’s Oregon policy manager, Charlie Plybon, reminded the council that local volunteers created the Blue Water Task Force nearly three decades ago in response to a lack of state recreational water testing, and that illnesses from contaminated water can be serious. He said he himself was hospitalized with a MRSA infection shortly after moving to Newport to surf.

While acknowledging that many of the fixes require major capital projects and outside funding, Plybon said the chapter is asking for three clear commitments from the city: real‑time communication when high bacteria readings come in, a visible plan to address stormwater and wastewater infrastructure, and better public information.

“We want some responsiveness from the city… We’d like to have a good working relationship with the city and be able to communicate to the thousands of members that see high bacteria readings that we’re trying to do something about it.” He urged the council to place the issue on a future agenda for a more in‑depth briefing and discussion, and suggested updating interpretive signs and other public communication at Nye Beach that have deteriorated over time.

Council members did not take formal action Monday night, but Mayor Jan Kaplan thanked the speakers and said city staff would follow up. “I really appreciate you all coming tonight. I know I’m listening” Kaplan said, adding that Surf Rider representatives had already met with the city manager earlier in the day. “We will be looking at how we can improve things here… we need to look at what we can.”

For Surf Rider volunteers who spoke, the immediate priority remains clear: they want the city to treat the Nye Beach outfall as a pressing public health concern, and to show the public that solutions – and communication – are back on the agenda.