Buck Gully project a work in progress

Paul Clinton

A pump-and-pipe system installed in Buck Gully to carry polluted water

away from Little Corona Beach during the summer was described as a

“learning process” by environmentalists and city officials.

The $35,000 pump system, lying at the mouth of the Corona del Mar

drainage channel leading to the beach, was installed by Orange County

CoastKeeper in late August.

“We had a lot of successes and some real frustrations,” said

CoastKeeper Executive Director Garry Brown. “The important thing is we

got almost 8 million gallons of polluted water off the beach.”

The pump was unplugged Oct. 15, the date the group’s bevy of permits

from various agencies expired.

During the almost two-month project, the group diverted 7.8 million

gallons of polluted runoff into the Orange County Sanitation District’s

system.

On Thursday, Newport Beach Public Works officials took control of

efforts to handle runoff from the gully on a long-term basis.

During a Thursday city staff meeting, it was decided to lay the

groundwork for plans to install another drainage pipe higher up in the

channel to take the runoff into a sewer line above East Coast Highway.

Newport Beach officials would also like to create wetlands, or

bio-swails, higher up the channel.

There are also plans, Assistant City Manager Dave Kiff said, to

increase testing of the amount of water flowing down the channel and the

quality of that water -- the bacteria levels, salinity and contamination.

The city has allocated $261,200 for the project, a sum that includes a

state grant from the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board. The

City Council, on Oct. 9, approved $39,075 for the project.

As far as the summer diversion, Kiff said the project wasn’t as

effective as it could have been.

After the pipe system was installed, project managers noticed an

increase in runoff, possibly due to a rise in sprinkler use from the

homes on the bluff.

“I think all of us were disappointed that the flows increased just as

we put in the pipe,” Kiff said. “We were disappointed we weren’t able to

take out more of the flow.”

-- Paul Clinton covers the environment and John Wayne Airport. He may

be reached at (949)764-4330 or by e-mail ato7

[email protected] .