Orange County Sanitation District

CLASSROOM SPACE AT WHITTIER The growing population at Whittier Elementary School is expected to cause a shortage of classroom space for the upcoming school year. What to expect: District officials will consider approving the addition of a relocatable building at the school. SEWER LINE EASEMENT At the last meeting, the school board approved a resolution expressing its intent to convey an easement to the Orange County Sanitation District for the purpose of constructing a public sewer line.

-- Paul Clinton The Orange County Sanitation District's board has set the date it will decide how it will treat sewage between now and 2020. The board put it on the July 17 agenda. By the time a vote was taken during a marathon Wednesday night meeting, only 17 members remained. Mayor Tod Ridgeway opposed the delay, saying the matter should be decided sooner rather than later. However, Costa Mesa Sanitary District member Jim Ferryman, who also holds a seat, supported the move.

The Costa Mesa Sanitary District postponed a decision Monday on whether to support a federal sewage waiver for the county sewer agency. Board members unanimously agreed to delay the decision a week, to just two days before the Orange County Sanitation District decides whether to chase the waiver. Nine cities have lined up to oppose the waiver, which allows the district to discharge 240 million gallons of partially treated sewage into the ocean. The city councils of Costa Mesa and Newport Beach oppose the waiver.

FOR THE RECORD In a Daily Pilot article on Monday ("A clean majority on board"), a member of the Orange County Sanitation District board was misquoted. Mark Leyes, who represents Garden Grove, did not suggest that a controversial sewage waiver would be renewed. Leyes said he supported the waiver at a Wednesday meeting before the board dumped the waiver on a 13-12 vote. In the Orange County Fair schedule on Friday, the day was misidentified as being a seniors day. The next seniors day at the fair will be Thursday.

Newport Beach city workers quickly mopped up sewage seeping out of a manhole at Carnation Park on Sunday, after a passing driver reported the spill. As a result of the spill, about 800 gallons of sewage flowed into gutters near the park at the intersection of Carnation Avenue and Bayside Drive. The Orange County Health Care Agency closed a quarter-mile section of Newport Harbor after the 12:20 p.m. spill. Agency regulators closed the harbor's beach front to swimmers and divers from Bayside Place to Harbor Patrol Beach, near the Balboa Yacht Club.

Swimmers and surfers were free to reenter the water from the Newport Beach Pier to Beach Boulevard in Huntington Beach Monday afternoon, after a two-day closure, according to lifeguards in both cities. The Orange County Environmental Health agency spent the weekend sampling ocean waters along the almost five-mile stretch of beach. The agency deemed the water safe for the public just after 2 p.m. Monday, said Larry Honeybourne, the program chief for the agency's Ocean Water Protection Program.

1. EMS stands for a. environmentalists mad for the sea b. electric midnight show c. a new rock band from the U.K., influenced by U2, touring with REM. d. emergency medical service 2. The Costa Mesa City Council appointed an interim commissioner to which commission this week? a. the Planning Commission b. the Warren Commission c. the Little Hoover Commission d. the Parks and Recreation Commission 3. The Orange County Sanitation District wants to contribute $60,000 -- from a fine the district must pay -- to: a. stem cell research b. earthquake-prediction technology c. more arts programs d. a program to monitor ocean currents 4. Fifty people of all ages and ethnicities marched at UC Irvine in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. How old would he have been on Jan. 15?

The Orange County Sanitation District is planning to pump treated wastewater into the ocean about a mile offshore of the Santa Ana River Jetties, instead of the usual five miles off, during a construction project beginning in September. Pumping closer to shore is part of a temporary maintenance project expected to last up to four weeks that aims to fix corroded portions of the 5-mile pipe, which was commissioned in the 1970s. Sanitation District officials say that swimmers and beachgoers should not notice any changes to ocean water, but they will likely see crews working on equipment at Huntington State Beach near the river outlet.

This past Saturday, I had the honor of attending the annual meeting of Stop Polluting Our Newport (SPON), a local organization that promotes the protection and preservation of Newport Beach’s environment. Jack Skinner discussed bay sedimentation and Heal the Bay’s annual “Beach Report Card” at the meeting. Heal The Bay, a Santa Monica-based nonprofit, gathers water-quality information from local agencies to assemble a report card. The latest report card presents a yearlong analysis of storm-water runoff, ocean and tributary water quality from May 2007 to April 2008.

Alicia Robinson Orange County residents have paid the price of urban runoff when they get sick from swimming or their beaches are closed, but they may soon be asked to pay in cash. Orange County Sanitation District staff members have proposed charging residents a fee, which could range from $25 to $50 a year per household, to help clean up urban runoff. Runoff water from urban areas can contain fertilizers, pesticides and fluids that leak from cars and other toxic materials.