Urban Runoff

NEWPORT BEACH — The Irvine Co. was responsible for monitoring urban runoff into a protected stretch of the Pacific north of Crystal Cove, until the Newport Beach City Council voted last week for the city to assume the responsibility. The change will cost the city $10,000 per year, but officials say it partly compensates the Irvine Co. for installing and maintaining a nearby public wastewater pump station. For decades, the Irvine Co. and local governments have been working out water quality protections between Corona del Mar and Laguna Beach.

Alicia Robinson Two new studies point to urban runoff as the delivery system for bacteria and viruses that make swimmers sick in northern Orange County. A paper by a UC Irvine graduate, just published in the American Journal of Public Health, says that urban runoff sickened surfers using Newport and Huntington beaches nearly twice as often as those surfing in rural Santa Cruz County during the winter of 1998. Another study by a UC Irvine professor, to be published later this month in the Journal of Applied Microbiology, says when looking for potential health hazards in water, the state would be better served looking for viruses rather than bacteria levels.

Susan McCormack NEWPORT BEACH -- The city has requested $100,000 from the county to increase its storm drain diversion program, which city officials say has been extremely successful at Newport Dunes. With four proposed diversion projects in place, urban runoff would be redirected to flow through sewers rather than storm drains, said Dave Kiff, deputy city manager. The runoff would then be cleansed by the sanitation district in the same way that wastewater from toilets and showers is treated, before being released into the ocean about 4 1/2 miles out. When runoff flows straight into storm drains, it eventually flows into the bay -- muck, toxic waste and all. Bob Caustin, president of Defend the Bay, a Newport-based nonprofit preservation group, said pollutants entering the bay include motor oil and metallic dust from the brake pads of automobiles, among others.

As the Newport Mesa crowd arrived at the St. Regis Resort Saturday night they were bombarded by demonstrators making their voices heard concerning democratic issues in Vietnam. The president of Vietnam was in Orange County over the weekend meeting with business leaders promoting trade between the East and West. The local crowd was, in fact, headed to the St. Regis for a benefit dinner on behalf of Miocean Foundation. Guests in limousines and high-profile vehicles became targets for demonstrators as they pulled into the porte cochere of the hotel as it was assumed the shiny black cars might be carrying government dignitaries or perhaps even the arriving president of Vietnam.

Armed with a $300,000 federal grant, the city of Newport Beach is girding itself to continue the battle against urban runoff. The problem is over-watering. The battleground is Newport Coast. And the weapon? Sprinkler system controls that automatically adjust to the weather and ground conditions to prevent landscaping from getting more water than it can use. City officials this week are launching a program to encourage up to 500 homeowners to use the controllers. With the grant and matching city funds, the city will pay for the controller and the installation.

-- Alex Coolman Orange County's project to divert urban runoff to waste water treatment plants officially began Wednesday. The $276,000 program, which includes a diversion berm in the Santa Ana River near Talbert Avenue in Costa Mesa, will see about 2.5 million gallons of runoff per day shunted to the treatment facilities of the Orange County Sanitation District. Without the program, that runoff would flow daily into the ocean. The program will be used throughout the summer.

Paul Clinton As a warning about potential contamination caused by urban runoff, Orange County health officials are advising beachgoers to stay away from the Newport Beach shoreline, possibly through the weekend. The Orange County Health Agency installed the 72-hour advisory late Monday after rainfall dumped about half an inch on the area. With more rain expected Thursday, the advisory will probably stay in effect until after the weekend. The agency institutes a three-day advisory after any rainfall, agency spokesman Larry Honeybourne said.

Paul Clinton NEWPORT-MESA -- A state bill that originated in Newport Beach and that environmentalists worried would limit the regulation of urban runoff is dead in the water. The bill, initially sponsored by state Sen. Ross Johnson (R-Irvine), has been shelved after 5th District Supervisor Tom Wilson asked Johnson to pull the bill last week. The legislation, known as Senate Bill 816, would have limited regional water boards in issuing cleanup orders for urban runoff.

June Casagrande Local leaders are disappointed that $1 million in county matching funds for urban runoff programs have been slashed, but the cutbacks aren't expected to cripple any of the city's plans or programs. More than $100 million in budget cuts announced this week by the Orange County Board of Supervisors included about $1 million a year for the Urban Runoff Matching Grant Program. The program was used by cities countywide to help remove contaminants from storm water runoff, said Monica Mazur of the Orange County Health Care Agency.

The Orange County Health Care Agency put up health warnings at two Newport Beach beaches Tuesday. The agency issued the warnings at 3:30 p.m. The area 300 feet on the north end of the Newport Dunes Waterfront Resort's swimming lagoon and at De Anza Ramp at Pearson's Port in the lower Back Bay were fitted with hazard signs. Swimmers and divers are warned to stay away from the water because it has shown heightened levels of bacteria, which are usually found in human and animal waste in urban runoff.

NEWPORT BEACH — The Irvine Co. was responsible for monitoring urban runoff into a protected stretch of the Pacific north of Crystal Cove, until the Newport Beach City Council voted last week for the city to assume the responsibility. The change will cost the city $10,000 per year, but officials say it partly compensates the Irvine Co. for installing and maintaining a nearby public wastewater pump station. For decades, the Irvine Co. and local governments have been working out water quality protections between Corona del Mar and Laguna Beach.

COSTA MESA — The City Council is scheduled to vote Tuesday on accepting money from an environmental group that will go toward building a water system for Fairview Park's Wetlands and Riparian Habitat Project. Irvine-based nonprofit MiOcean Foundation has set aside $350,000 for Costa Mesa, according to a city staff report. MiOcean implements business models to curb the effects or urban runoff pollution to preserve the county's coastline, according to its website. "We're very excited to accept the grant from MiOcean and to continue the incredible project that we're doing over at Fairview Park," Mayor Gary Monahan said.

The Orange County Health Agency has issued a warning that areas of Newport Harbor recently showed levels of bacteria that fail health standards. The coastline stretching 150 feet up and down the area between 15th and 16th streets had unsafe bacteria levels, according to a weekend test, the county’s website, OCBeachInfo.com , showed. In Newport Harbor, the 33rd Street Channel at the end of 33rd Street and the Sapphire Avenue beach on the south side of Balboa Island showed unsafe bacterial levels, the county reported.

As the Newport Mesa crowd arrived at the St. Regis Resort Saturday night they were bombarded by demonstrators making their voices heard concerning democratic issues in Vietnam. The president of Vietnam was in Orange County over the weekend meeting with business leaders promoting trade between the East and West. The local crowd was, in fact, headed to the St. Regis for a benefit dinner on behalf of Miocean Foundation. Guests in limousines and high-profile vehicles became targets for demonstrators as they pulled into the porte cochere of the hotel as it was assumed the shiny black cars might be carrying government dignitaries or perhaps even the arriving president of Vietnam.

CORONA DEL MAR — As part of its re-landscaping, Roger's Gardens is promoting a greener environment by eliminating some of its urban runoff and planting California-friendly foliage throughout the grounds. The garden center wants to help people understand that there are many ways to create a garden that uses significantly less water. Roger's Gardens manager Ron Vanderhoff said the problem with some of the garden plans that drastically cut the amount of water needed is their look — they're functional and people appreciate the intention, but many people don't want gravel gardens filled mostly with succulents.

It is not a battleground as high profile as John Wayne Airport or as apt to cause such bitter debate as talk of a bridge over the Santa Ana River at 19th Street. But it is equally important and certainly more ever-present. In fact, it is right out most people's front doors. The lawns and landscaping that otherwise improve the looks (not to mention value) of Newport Beach homes also are often the source of urban runoff, which in this community flows immediately and directly to the Back Bay, the harbor and the ocean.

Armed with a $300,000 federal grant, the city of Newport Beach is girding itself to continue the battle against urban runoff. The problem is over-watering. The battleground is Newport Coast. And the weapon? Sprinkler system controls that automatically adjust to the weather and ground conditions to prevent landscaping from getting more water than it can use. City officials this week are launching a program to encourage up to 500 homeowners to use the controllers. With the grant and matching city funds, the city will pay for the controller and the installation.

Alicia Robinson Hoping to woo a fellow congressman who doles out money for environmental projects, Rep. Chris Cox used a helicopter flight and a bus trip Friday to show Ohio Rep. David Hobson why the Back Bay needs $13 million. Hobson chairs the House subcommittee on appropriations for energy and water development, which will draw up a bill by June that could include money to dredge two million cubic yards of silt from the Upper Newport Bay. While energy and water appropriations for 2006 could total as much as $30 billion, getting the $13 million Newport wants could be tough, Hobson said.

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.

MIKE WHITEHEAD Ahoy. Now, I normally do not poke fun at the headlines in this newspaper, but I cannot help myself this week with some tempting stories involving Newport Harbor and water quality. The reporter did a good job writing these stories; I am just poking fun at the headlines. Oh, the irony. Breaking news was the closure of the beaches along Mariner's Mile from the Harbor Marina that is located by the Newport Boulevard Bridge at Coast Highway to Riverside Drive.