Cities ordered to clean up river

Paul Clinton

Huntington Beach, Newport Beach and the county could face sanctions

if they do not reduce polluted urban runoff flowing into the Santa

Ana River.

During water quality meetings held earlier this month, the Santa

Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board told Surf City and its

neighbors to clean up the river.

Any blame that falls on Surf City’s shoulders should be shared by

inland cities, which also contribute pollution to the river, Mayor

Connie Boardman said.

“The same administrative order should also be placed into effect

on the inland cities that contribute to the runoff in the river,”

Boardman said.

Huntington Beach has a year-round summer diversion program to

collect runoff heading to the Santa Ana River and send it to the

Orange County Sanitation District.

Surf City saw its summer tourism industry decimated in 1999 when

its beaches were closed for much of the summer because of bacteria

outbreaks in the surf zone. Officials say those closures were

probably caused by polluted runoff, wastewater from the district’s

underwater plume, which is released 4 1/2miles offshore, and possibly

other factors.

The water board is targeting a handful of tributaries in the city

that drain into the river and a large storm drain in Newport Beach

that empties into the mouth of the river at Seashore Drive and Coast

Highway in West Newport.

“Storm drains are laden with bacteria,” said Dave Kiff, Newport

Beach’s assistant city manager. “I just know I’ve got to stop the

bacteria from coming out of the pipe. ... The board is telling us

informally to solve this.”

If city and county officials fail to reduce the amount of bacteria

in the river, the board could issue a cease-and-desist order, which

would mandate a cleanup.

The move is the latest regulatory attempt to reduce bacterial

outbreaks along the shorelines of the two cities. Water quality

regulators have been scrambling to solve these mysterious outbreaks

for almost four years.

At an April 3 meeting with city and county officials, Ken Theisen,

an environmental scientist with the water board, urged officials to

cut down polluted flow. Right now, the county is diverting about 30

million gallons per day from the river to a sewage treatment plant.

The concrete drain in Newport along Seashore and Coast Highway

contributes about 10,000 gallons per day to the river mouth.

“It’s very high in bacteria,” Theisen said. “More than 80% of the

time, it exceeds the [state] standard.”

Newport Beach leaders have begun to investigate what can be done,

Kiff said.

Newport Beach Councilman Tod Ridgeway, a member of the Orange

County Sanitation Board, said he isn’t convinced that the Santa Ana

River is the source of the problem.

Ridgeway was one of 13 sanitation members who cast key votes for

increased treatment of wastewater released by the district via an

outfall pipe.

“I’m not prepared to say with authority that it’s the Santa Ana

River,” Ridgeway said. “I don’t think we can say that.”

* PAUL CLINTON is a reporter with Times Community News. He covers

City Hall. He may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at

[email protected].