Paul ClintonFor thousands of years, the murky...

Paul Clinton

For thousands of years, the murky Santa Ana River provided a

dependable water supply for Native American civilizations. Now, with

its urbanized concrete channel, the river has become a sore spot with

water regulators, neighboring homeowners and city leaders.

The river, long a focal point because of its polluted runoff,

flood-control limitations and lack of usable open space, is back in

the spotlight.

As regional water quality regulators renew their efforts to clean

up the river, Newport Beach and Huntington Beach leaders say they’ve

already begun a battery of measures to combat the flow of polluted

runoff into the ocean.

“We’ve been so aggressive in trying to clean up the water that’s

heading into the ocean,” Newport Beach Councilman Tod Ridgeway said.

“We need to set an example for all those other cities [farther up the

river].”

The city has begun planning a project that would eliminate a

bacterial-laden storm drain that empties into the river’s mouth at

West Coast Highway.

Neighboring Huntington Beach has also taken an active role in

combating polluted water flowing toward the beach.

“The city is clearly focusing on urban runoff,” Huntington Beach

Councilwoman Debbie Cook said. “Compared to other cities, this one is

very progressive.”

In addition to the heightened attention on the river’s water

quality, a Santa Ana assemblyman has proposed a bill that would

establish a wild lands conservancy for the river. Newport-Mesa’s

assemblymen have been divided -- Assemblyman Ken Maddox supported it;

Assemblyman John Campbell opposed it.

The Army Corps of Engineers also plans to remove sediment from the

river bottom near the Adams Bridge in 2004; that comes after the

agency completed a 10-year flood-control project that included

improvements to a Costa Mesa drainage channel.

Dubbed by Assemblyman Tom Harman (R-Huntington Beach) as the

“drain plug” of Orange County, the Santa Ana River stretches some 100

miles from Big Bear Lake south to the border of Huntington Beach and

Newport Beach. It meanders through three counties and, along the way,

collects oils from roadways, pesticides from lawns and bacteria from

animal waste.

Harman has proposed a constitutional amendment that would generate

revenue to pay for urban-runoff projects.

RUNOFF POLLUTION’S SOURCE

The river is viewed as one of several contributors to surf zone

contamination that has closed beaches in Huntington and Newport.

“The Santa Ana River has always been identified as a source of our

beach problems,” said Ken Theisen, a senior environmental scientist

with the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board. “That is

definitely a significant source.”

Theisen, who oversees regulation of the river, said he estimates

that the river contributes about 50% of the bacteria to Huntington

State Beach at Magnolia Street. The Orange County Health Care

Agency’s testing station in that area, dubbed 9 North, has registered

the most persistent bacteria problems, officials

said. Bacteria outbreaks have also shown up at the Newport Pier.

Since shortly after a rash of shoreline bacteria outbreaks in 1999

closed Surf City beaches, Huntington Beach has diverted urban runoff

inside its borders year round.

Polluted water from all over the Talbert-Lower Santa Ana River

Watershed -- an area the includes Huntington Beach and sections of

Costa Mesa, Newport Beach and Fountain Valley -- flows into a network

of channels and into the river. City and county officials then pump

the wastewater to two sewage treatment plants operated by the Orange

County Sanitation District.

Sanitation district officials accept about 2-million gallons of

runoff each day. The “upstream cities,” as they are known, have

provided little assistance in combating the runoff that soils beaches

along the coastline. Runoff from Garden Grove, Westminster, Fullerton

and other cities flows into the Talbert Watershed, officials said.

“There are some things that need to be done upstream to keep the

water from getting into the river in the first place,” said Robert

Ghirelli, the director of technical services for the sanitary

district.

ATTACKING POLLUTION

The Irvine Ranch Water District also diverts runoff from the

Newport Bay Watershed, which takes the drainage from Costa Mesa,

Newport Beach, Irvine, Tustin and other cities.

Newport Beach has trained its sights on a concrete drain along

Coast Highway and Seashore Drive that dumps a “bacteria stew” into

the river, Assistant City Manager Dave Kiff said.

To the north, Huntington Beach has also taken up the cause to

reduce polluted runoff into the river. In early 2002, the city hired

consultant Camp, Dresser & McKee to prepare twin plans for Surf

City’s water quality and drainage efforts. The city issued contracts

for $230,000 to prepare the water-quality plan and $360,000 for the

drainage plan, said Geraldine Lucas, the principal environmental

engineer.

By summer, the firm has said it will return to the city with

specific recommendations to handle urban runoff and to map out, with

a global positioning satellite, the 1,700 catch basins in the city,

Lucas said.

“The city has been pretty aggressive,” Lucas said. “We’re looking

to be innovative in our approach.”

Regulators have already placed two sections of the river, outside

of Orange County, on a federal list of Impaired Water Bodies, known

as the 303d List. One of the sections came as a result of efforts by

Defend the Bay founder Bob Caustin, a Newport Beach activist, to

determine that bovine urine has been flowing southward from a cluster

of Chino dairies.

HELP FROM SACRAMENTO

On the legislative front, Assemblyman Harman in February

introduced an amendment to state law that would require two-thirds

voter approval for any new fees or taxes. Harman’s bill would add

urban-runoff to the list of water fees that could be imposed without

a vote. The bill would generate millions of dollars to potentially

fund projects that would add catch basins or wetland filters along

the river, he said.

“It would allow for the local governments to supply that revenue,”

Harman said. “I think it’s needed.”

Harman’s Orange County colleague, Assemblyman Lou Correa (D-Santa

Ana), has proposed creating an umbrella agency similar to the Santa

Monica Mountains Conservancy as a potential way to set aside land for

open space and parks.

The bill has been embraced by Harman and Maddox, but drew the ire

of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, who said it would create

regulatory roadblocks and cede too much local control.

Supervisor Jim Silva has called the bill too vague. Ridgeway said

he supports the bill, if it doesn’t encroach on private property

rights.

OUT OF THE FLOOD ZONE

The river’s concrete basin and a network of interconnecting

channels have also been the focus of a decade-long flood-control

project. The Army Corps of Engineers in 1992 began shoring up levees

and channels in the event of a catastrophic flood.

The Corps of Engineers wrapped up the $1.4-billion project in

2000. The federal agency spent $424 million on the Orange County

section of the river, said Herb Nakasone, the county’s flood control

manager.

Part of that project included improvements to the

Greenville-Banning Channel that cuts through Costa Mesa. Earthen

levees and rock side slopes were added to bolster the channel.

As a result of the project, many of the Costa Mesa and Huntington

Beach neighborhoods along the river have been removed from a flood

control plane. The Federal Emergency Management Agency had placed the

designation on the area, requiring homeowners to pay as much as $800

for annual flood insurance. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher has secured a

string of grants to pay for the work.

In late March, Rohrabacher submitted an additional request to

study the possibility of widening the East Garden Grove Wintersburg

Channel in Huntington Beach for the same purpose. Rohrabacher asked

for $300,000.

Next year, the Corps of Engineers had hoped to begin a river

dredging project to remove sediment from the river near the Adams

Bridge. That project has been stalled due to a tight budget

atmosphere in Washington D.C., Nakasone said.

More than 10% of the channel has been lost due to the amount of

silt that has collected at the river bottom.

The dredging project would cut down on the possibility of the

river overflowing if Orange County has a catastrophic storm similar

to the ones that cut large swaths of destruction through

neighborhoods in 1938 and 1969.

“I do believe that [the dredging] does provide a lot of piece of

mind,” Nakasone said. “A flood is like an earthquake. It’s not a

matter of whether it’s going to occur. It’s a question of when.”

* PAUL CLINTON covers the environment, business and politics. He

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

[email protected].