Bill could jeopardize harbor’s water

NEWPORT BEACH -- Environmentalists and city officials have begun

mobilizing against a federal bill that could open the floodgates and

allow boaters to dump partially treated sewage into the harbor.

The bubbling up of serious concerns about the bill, introduced by Rep.

Jim Saxton (R-N.J.), surfaced in City Hall earlier this month.

Mayor Gary Adams urged Reps. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) and

Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) to oppose the bill in an Aug. 9

letter.

“I urge you to contact Rep. Saxton and ask him to reconsider his

authorship of this measure,” Adams wrote in the letter.

Cox was traveling out of the country and couldn’t be reached for

comment Friday. Rohrabacher is reviewing the bill, said Ricardo Bernal,

the congressman’s press secretary.

“We’re not sure if this bill is going anywhere,” Bernal said.

Saxton, who lists boating as a hobby on his Web site, introduced the

bill May 3. It was referred to the House water resources and environment

subcommittee.

The most serious repercussion of the bill’s passage could be the

removal of Newport Harbor’s federal distinction as a “no-discharge

harbor.”

The Environmental Protection Agency granted the harbor, and Upper

Newport Bay, that status in 1975 to prevent boaters from discharging any

form of waste, especially sewage.

Saxton’s bill, known as the Recreational Waters Protection Act, would

amend the federal Clean Water Act to do two things: revise the standards

for bacteria levels and allow boats equipped with a specific type of

“marine sanitation device” to unload their waste in protected water

bodies.

The de facto loss of the “no-discharge” protection would be

catastrophic, environmentalist Jack Skinner said.

“This has been one of the backbones of efforts to improve bay water

quality over the last 17 years,” Skinner said. “The reason this is so

important in Newport is because some of the best recreational swimming

areas are surrounded by boats.”

The sanitation devices mentioned in the bill would provide a “low

level of disinfection” to the waste, Skinner contends. In his letter,

Adams says the devices would not kill giardia, cryptosporidium and other

parasites found in the waste.

Other officials have also raised concerns about the bill. Wanda Smith,

the coastal waters chief at the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control

Board, was also troubled by its potential repercussions.

“I would certainly have a concern with any bill that would allow for

discharge into the bay,” Smith said. “If it’s going to have that effect,

we are going to need to respond.”

QUESTION

WATERED DOWN

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