Divers learn dangers of too much heavy metal

SAN PEDRO — The Los Angeles harbor waters that public safety divers are routinely submerged in contain some unsavory and potentially dangerous chemical substances, students from Clark Magnet High School told a group of divers Thursday at a conference on water contamination.

Students from Dominique Evans-Bye’s marine science research class shared the findings of a study they did during the 2006-07 school year that tested sediment, water and marine life in Los Angeles harbor for heavy-metal contamination.

Evans-Bye helped organize the conference on water contamination to showcase the students’ research to divers. Public safety agencies like the Long Beach Police Department and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department attended the conference, which was held at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium in San Pedro.

“We worked for a year on it, and we wanted to have a point,” said Dalar Nazari, 17, who gave the presentation on behalf of the marine science class. “[The conference is] giving us a purpose.”

Several of the public safety divers who came to the conference said this was the first time they’d attended any event where high school students were giving them information that could affect their dive practices.

Long Beach Police Sgt. Lee DeBrabander said public safety divers are aware of potentially dangerous contaminants in the harbor, but when there is work to do underwater, they sometimes have little choice.

“You know it’s there; you also know you have a job to do,” DeBrabander said.

Public safety dive teams foray into Los Angeles harbor to collect evidence and search for criminal activity.

The data students presented on Thursday came from 39 sediment samples, five animal tissue samples and several water samples that students gathered around Los Angeles Harbor during three collection trips last year.

The students used a shovel-like instrument called a Van Veen grab to collect the sediment, and a kind of net called an otter trawl to collect the marine animals. The samples were analyzed by EMAX Laboratories, a Torrance-based company.

Students then examined the levels of heavy metals such as lead, mercury and arsenic using a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reference table. The students also compared the levels of heavy-metal contamination with the levels the class documented in samples several years ago.