Upper Newport Bay

Newport Beach Councilwoman Leslie Daigle and City Manager Dave Kiff met with members of Congress in Washington, D.C., on Thursday to ask for $6 million in federal appropriations funding to clean up Newport Harbor. “Newport Bay contributes to the wealth of our community,” Daigle said. “It lifts us, our recreation, our economy, our sense of well being. It is the blood of this community, a life force. That is why its maintenance is a priority.” The $6 million would pay for the year of what is expected to be a multi-year, $15-million cleanup project, Daigle said.

The Federal Aviation Administration plans to change a satellite-guided takeoff procedure for some flights from John Wayne Airport. Newport Beach residents had complained that the system was diverting noisy aircraft over the Bluffs neighborhood on the east side of Upper Newport Bay. “It’s a tiny little tweak in the procedure that we hope will eliminate noise concerns for people in the Bluffs neighborhood,” said Ian Gregor,...

Dredging in Upper Newport Bay will resume once a series of bad storms passes over the area, city officials said this week. Next week, workers are expected to begin dredging out an area of the Upper Bay near Jamboree Road, using an excavator on a barge to scoop out sediment from the bottom of the bay. The dredging project is slated for completion at the end of 2010, Councilwoman Leslie Daigle said. “Once the excavation restarts, there is a one-year shot clock to completion,” Daigle said.

The high levels of selenium found in the Upper Newport Bay watershed are troubling indeed. State water quality officials earlier this month ordered Orange County, Newport Beach and several other cities, public agencies and private entities whose lands lie upstream from the estuary to pay perhaps hundreds of millions to fix the problem. This natural chemical is an essential nutrient for living species and organisms. But large concentrations can be poisonous to birds, mammals and humans, according to the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Health Center.

High levels of a chemical element known to cause deformities in birds have been found in Upper Newport Bay. State water quality officials have ordered Newport Beach, the county, and several cities that sit upstream from the estuary to pay millions of dollars to fix the problem. Preliminary estimates put the cost of taking measures to prevent high levels of selenium from leaching into Upper Newport Bay at $42 million to $137 million. One option for cleanup involves diverting groundwater runoff into the sewer system, instead of letting it flow into the bay. “We’re basically trying to develop some long-term cleanup plans to deal with selenium in the watershed area,” said Kurt Berchtold, assistant executive officer for the Regional Water Quality Control Board.

High levels of a chemical element that has been known to cause deformities in birds have been found in Upper Newport Bay. State water quality officials have ordered Newport Beach, the county, and several cities that sit upstream from the estuary to pay millions of dollars to fix the problem. Preliminary estimates put the cost of taking measures to prevent high levels of the chemical element selenium from leaching into Upper Newport Bay at $42 million to $137 million. The options for cleanup range from diverting groundwater runoff into the sewer system, instead of letting it flow into the bay. “We’re basically trying to develop some long-term cleanup plans to deal with selenium in the watershed area,” said Kurt Berchtold, assistant executive officer for the Regional Water Quality Control Board.

If local naturalist Dick Newell gets a report of a fearless bobcat strolling casually across the path of cyclists riding around Upper Newport Bay, or dropping in on a well-manicured Newport Beach backyard, he knows it’s probably Babe. Babe, a 17-pound female bobcat Newell guesses is about 5 years old, is easily recognizable by the distinctive pattern of her spotted coat and identification tag in her left ear. “She’ll just walk down the path right past you,” Newell said.

There were tears in the eyes of many Temple Bat Yahm members, as congregants of the Newport Beach synagogue gathered this week to write the first letter of the Torah on a piece of parchment with a feather quill. “There is an expression in the Jewish tradition that the Jewish people without the Torah is like a body without a soul,” said Temple Bat Yahm Rabbi Mark S. Miller. “This is the soul of Judaism that we are creating anew.” The temple has embarked on a yearlong project to write a new Torah, a religious scroll that contains the holiest texts in Judaism.