Tod Ridgeway
Newport Beach got a bit of attention when city crews and others
nabbed 60 ducks from the Grand Canal ("Ducks -- ducks -- vamoose,"
Aug. 23). The relocation effort brought chuckles from even the most
hard-core clean water supporters among us -- because we know that
duck droppings contribute to poor water quality, but we also know how
silly grown men look when chasing down ducks.
Duck roundups -- while being visible and attention grabbing -- are
a very small part of Newport Beach's overall clean water effort. We
were proud to be one of the first cities that opposed the Orange
County Sanitation District's continued discharge of partially treated
sewage into the ocean outfall. Here in town, the city will spend more
than $4 million this year alone on programs that attempt to clean up
the bay and the ocean shoreline.
As an important reminder, Newport Bay is one of the most
intensively tested waterways in the state. Each week, the health
department samples 35 sites around the bay. In addition, the
sanitation district and the health department sample another 20 ocean
sites from Crystal Cove to the Santa Ana River.
Where a sample exceeds state standards for bacterial indicators,
we "post" the area to advise swimmers of the bacteria. Of the 55
sampling locations, only four have chronic problems with bacteria --
the bay waters around Newport Island and, oddly, Harbor Patrol Beach
off Bayside Drive.
That's pretty good news when you think about it -- the vast
majority of bay beaches, and all of our ocean beaches, get top marks
for water quality. As such, we have allocated our time and resources
to maintaining the good water quality we see and to improving those
areas that get poor marks. Here are the ways we do this using Newport
Beach tax dollars:
* Keeping roads clean. You may not know it, but effective street
sweeping and trash removal are some of the best tools to improve
water quality. We sweep streets daily in commercial areas and weekly
in residential areas. It's vitally important that you move your car
in advance of street sweeping day, because the trash (especially
cigarette butts), sediment, oil, pet waste and brake dust that the
sweeper misses ends up in the bay and ocean. Street sweeping is
expensive (about $500,000 annually) -- and we're one of only a
handful of cities that sweeps streets daily and weekly. Some inland
cities are still on a twice-monthly schedule.
* Keeping storm drains clean. Those openings in the gutter (with
