A unanimous vote by the Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee will send a proposal to the City Council that supporters hope will close the loophole in the alcohol beach ban and put an end to future Floatopia events. Floatopias, also referred to as “Floatillas” and “Inner2bapalooza,” involve participants consuming alcohol while floating on Mission Bay in blow-up, non-motorized devices such as rafts, tubes and large “kiddie pools.” Partygoers take advantage of a loophole in the beach alcohol ban by drinking legally because they are not touching the shoreline, where alcohol consumption is banned. There have been four Floatopia events since August 2009 in Mission Bay, three at Sail Bay and one off of Fiesta Island. At the June 30 meeting at San Diego City Hall, the committee, made up of council members Marti Emerald, Tony Young, Sherri Lightner and Todd Gloria, heard the proposal from chief lifeguard Rick Wurtz and police Capt. Chris Ball asking the committee to approve a motion to add the definition of bather to the San Diego Municipal Code 56.54, which bans the consumption of alcohol on the city’s beaches. The committee’s recommendation now heads to the full City Council for consideration. A bather would be defined as “a person swimming, floating, wading, body surfing with or without the use of a floatation device …” The addition of this term would make it illegal for those floating within one marine league of the shoreline, equivalent to three nautical miles, to drink alcohol in the water. The original ordinance did not address alcohol consumption in the water, Wurtz said. “If this passes it’s going to solve Floatopia for us,” Ball said. San Diego lifeguards estimate that between 1,500 and 6,000 people attend each of these events. The lifeguards have made numerous rescues and are responsible for controlling the crowds at the events. “In addition to water rescues, we have a myriad of medical aids,” Wurtz said. One such alcohol-related rescue involved a person who was so intoxicated, the person was unable to stand in shallow water and needed to be rescued by lifeguards, Wurtz pointed said. The two most recent events have cost the city over $20,000 in necessary funds to facilitate extra safety personnel on scene from both the Lifeguard Service and Fire and Emergency Medical Services. “The people organizing these events continue to remain anonymous,” Wurtz said. Floatopias are coordinated by social media networking sites like Facebook and Twitter which allow the word to spread through a network and, therefore, one individual cannot be held responsible. In addition to the health concerns and risks, Wurtz cited environmental concerns such as the destruction of eelgrass and the enormous amount of waste produced at the events. Concern for underage drinking and public drunkenness in addition to public urination and trespassing are all reasons Wurtz gave for the need to end Floatopia events. “At this point, we don’t have any reason to believe these are going to stop,” Wurtz said, citing an upcoming Floatopia event this month. The soonest the item will appear on the City Council’s docket is July 12, after councilmembers returns from a legislative recess. “This is not about personal freedom,” Councilwoman Emerald said. “This is about personal responsibility.”