Activist takes on wetland filters

Paul Clinton

Noted Irvine Ranch Water District critic Bob Caustin has taken aim at

the agency’s latest project, a network of wetland filters along San

Diego Creek, calling the environmental review “fundamentally flawed.”

The comments were included in a 13-page critique of the project

released Friday.

In the document, Caustin wrote that the agency’s environmental

analysis, which is required by state law, failed to delve fully into

the potentially harmful effects of the filters on the water quality

in Upper Newport Bay.

The water district, with the project, has proposed installing some

31 filters along San Diego Creek, which drains into Back Bay, for $41

million. The filters will be installed late this year.

Beth Beeman, a water district spokeswoman, acknowledged receiving

Caustin’s letter, but said it was too early to say whether the

environmental report released on March 5 is lacking.

“The purpose of the [wetland filters] is to prevent contaminants

from entering Newport Bay,” Beeman said. “We are pleased that Bob

Caustin continues to promote the key objective of the project.”

Water district officials have said the project’s man-made wetlands

would filter out polluted runoff, including oil, animal waste,

grease, pesticides and other waste in urban runoff that flows down

the watershed and enters the Back Bay.

Caustin, who founded Defend the Bay, successfully sued the

Environmental Protection Agency in the mid-1990s, forcing the agency

to regulate water-quality standards in Back Bay more strictly.

In his critique, Caustin accuses the water district of not

addressing the full effect of the project on bay water quality. In

particular, he singles out the “in-line” filters that dump filtered

water directly into the bay. The district’s “off-line” sites filter

the runoff and dump it into intermediary basins for more treatment.

Caustin also says the district has misrepresented the views of at

least one expert to lend credibility to the project.

Beeman said it would be premature to address each of Caustin’s

points. After the public review period closed Friday, the district

began preparing formal responses to each comment.

Caustin has won two significant legal victories against the water

district.

In 1998, Caustin successfully overturned a controversial permit

that would have allowed the water district to discharge highly

treated waste water into Back Bay.

In late 2001, a judge sided with Caustin in his challenge of a

water district plan to fill the San Joaquin Reservoir with reclaimed

water.

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

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

[email protected].