Water

Recognizing that many people are afflicted with a passion for the nautical lifestyle, and that there is no television programming specifically for them, Gregg Baum and his stepbrother Chip Plested created "Water on the Brain." The television show, which features boat owners exploring the waters, will premiere Sunday at 7:30 a.m. on Channel 3 of Cox Communications cable systems. Two years ago, Baum asked Plested what kind of TV show he would create if he had the opportunity.

Mesa Consolidated Water District President James F. Atkinson is this year’s recipient of the Excellent in Leadership Award from Leadership Tomorrow, a civic empowerment organization. Atkinson, a former organization board member, was recognized for his efforts to promote awareness of the city’s water infrastructure, Chairwoman Stephanie Murguia said. “He has donated countless hours to our nonprofit organization, in addition to the time he spends on critical water issues as president of the Mesa Board,” she said.

Andrew Edwards Word on the beach has it that the water's cold, too cold. "If you stay in there for more than a minute, it just numbs," beachgoer Jacob Chavez said after a group of friends threw him into the waves. "Your legs, they feel like ice." Chavez, who lives in Glendora, visited the beach between the Balboa and Newport piers Friday. Around noon, many of the people visiting that stretch of shore were lounging on the sand overlooking the water.

Sue Doyle NEWPORT BEACH -- People packing local beaches for relief from rising temperatures in inland cities may have found a little more cooling than they bargained for Tuesday as water temperatures chilled to icy levels. Breezy winds from the west are to blame for the dramatic drop in water temperature, which plummeted to the low 60s. However, cool water was certainly a sought-after commodity Tuesday as temperatures spiked to more than 90 degrees throughout the county, and even 92 degrees in Costa Mesa, sending many searching for ways to beat the heat.

Alicia Robinson State funds from Proposition 13 will pay for an expansion of Orange County CoastKeeper's citizen water-monitoring program that will start in February, CoastKeeper project manager Ray Hiemstra said. Proposition 13 is a $2-billion bond for water-quality improvement approved by California voters in 2000. The first round of funding is now becoming available, and CoastKeeper will get $180,000, Hiemstra said. The coastal protection organization began its citizen monitoring in January 2001 with money from the federal Environmental Protection Agency, and the program has been a big success, he said.

Linda White's favorite subject is always changing. It turns colors in different light, reflects the world above it, rarely holds its shape for more than an instant. The artist does her painting at a home studio in Balboa, but most of her research comes from peering over the side of a boat. On Nov. 1, White's one-woman painting show, "Impressions of Water," opened at the Newport Beach Central Library. The oil paintings in the show, most of which capture the patterns and colors of sun on the water, came from her trips to the Sea of Cortez, the Mexican coast and just off the beach in Newport.

CORONA DEL MAR ? It's hard out there for a pelican. After a June 22 collision with a car windshield in Laguna Beach, a now-recovered California brown pelican nicknamed "Crash" was released at the water's edge in Corona del Mar State Beach Thursday. Workers from Huntington Beach's Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center, which nursed the young female bird back to health, also released 10 other pelicans that had been victims of fishing lines and hooks or starvation. Crash may have hit the car because she'd been poisoned by domoic acid, a substance produced by red tide algae that is eaten by fish, which are then eaten by birds.

One of the significant natural processes on earth is the soil?s ability to act as a cleansing filter for water. Water, either from rainfall or irrigation, eventually finds its way back into the ocean or into underground water-storing aquifers. In urban spaces such as most of Orange County, however, we?ve covered much of our landscape with solid, impermeable surfaces that do not allow water to filter back into the earth. Additionally, most of us live on properties that have been designed specifically to remove water from our properties, and to do it as quickly as possible.

If anybody has ever lived near water or known the joys of going for walks along the edge of a stream, river or ocean, gone swimming or fishing, taken a boat ride, or even just looked at water from a vantage point, you understand its magic. Water soothes our souls, provides mystery and allure, creates history and, most importantly, sustains life! Here are some titles at the Newport Beach Public Library that revolve around this glorious liquid: “Rivers of America” by Tim Palmer: An explorer, conservationist, photographer and writer, Palmer reminds us that there would be no life without water.

Old pipes that finally gave way were behind Wednesday’s early morning water main break in Newport Beach, which caused part of a street to cave in and leave behind a gaping hole, city officials said. While city workers quickly shut off water to the 83-year-old main, which broke beneath Via Lido near the corner of Newport Boulevard, they still were busy late Wednesday afternoon repairing the damaged road, whose westbound lanes had to be closed to traffic. George Murdoch, the city’s utilities director, said the road work would continue round-the-clock.

Some of the best water polo players in the world are coming to Newport Harbor High next weekend. With the weeks dwindling until the London Olympics, the Newport Beach Water Polo club is working on making it into a Memorial Day weekend to remember. The club is hosting a three-day, pre-Olympic water polo showcase at Newport Harbor starting Saturday. Three of the top men's national teams in the world — Team USA, Hungary and Croatia — will be participating. Robert Lynn can't wait.

LOS ANGELES - As the U.S. Olympic women's water polo team was named Thursday, Coach Adam Krikorian read off the names in alphabetical order. The first name was the former Corona del Mar High and USC standout, Tumua Anae. This led to a funny moment at the announcement at the LA84 Foundation. "It was a little awkward," Anae said. "He kind of just looked at me. I wasn't sure of the formality of it, if we were supposed to hug or shake hands. But I'm all about the hugs. " It makes sense.

The $2-million Buck Gully erosion control project is nearly complete and already has proven to work as intended, slowing down this spring's storm waters that streamed toward Little Corona Beach. But some neighbors along the gully say the system, which uses rock-filled cages to slow and divert water flow, might be creating an unintended problem - stagnant pools of water that could harbor mosquitoes. "The water is starting to turn green, and I'm afraid it'll be a mosquito farm," said Sandie Haskell at the April meeting of the Corona del Mar Residents Assn.

The UC Irvine women's water polo team is the No. 4 seed and will play No. 5-seeded Loyola Marymount in the first round of the NCAA Championship, May 11 at 8:15 p.m. at San Diego State. The Anteaters (24-6) won their fourth straight Big West Conference Tournament title and are making their second straight NCAA Tournament appearance. UCI split two matches with Loyola Marymount (20-9) this season, posting a 12-9 win at LMU on Feb. 18 and absorbing a 9-6 loss on Feb. 25 at UCI. Stanford (23-2)

Maddy McLaren is super-competitive in just about everything she does. More than just a defender for the Newport Harbor High girls' water polo team, the senior was the Sailors' leading scorer for the second straight year. More than just a player in the water, she acted as a coach at times, verbally telling her teammates what to do in certain game situations. Not every situation was favorable for the Sailors. Not every person outside of the team believed. At the start of the regular season Newport Harbor was ranked No. 5 in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 coaches' poll - respectable, but low for the perennial powerhouse.

The mayors of Newport Beach and Laguna Beach will face off Friday to see whose city is more water-wise in a month-long national online competition. Mayors Nancy Gardner of Newport and Jane Egly of Laguna will kick off the National Mayor's Challenge for Water Conservation from 3 to 4 p.m. at the Back Bay Science Center, 600 Shellmaker Road, Newport Beach. Environmental artist Wyland and Environmental Protection Agency water office head Nancy Stoner will also be in attendance.

The weather and the ocean swells were the biggest challenge for the Newport Harbor and Corona del Mar high school sailing teams. They battled the cold, wind and rain as they competed in the Gaucho Regatta, put on last weekend by the UC Santa Barbara sailing team in Santa Barbara Harbor. At dawn on March 17, the two large sailing teams drove through the pouring rain to Santa Barbara in numerous cars. They towed their boats to sail against 28 other high school sailing teams from San Diego to San Francisco.

The Costa Mesa Aquatics club added another big tournament win to its trophy case. The 10U team took the championship last weekend at the Laguna Beach tournament. The club went undefeated, winning five games against some major powerhouse teams. Never falling behind in any of the games, CMAC easily sailed through the tournament, beating Capistrano Valley, 11-8, Huntington Beach, 14-1, Pacific Polo, 13-2, Corona del Mar, 5-1, and 15-5 against RIverside for the championship. Coaches Cody and Dustin Serrano said they are so proud of how hard the team played and they are quickly becoming one of the top 10U teams in the area.

CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship match No. 1 Corona del Mar (28-2) vs. No. 2 Newport Harbor (26-4) When/where: Saturday, 7:45 p.m. at Woollett Aquatics Center in Irvine Key Sea Kings: Sr. utility Pippa Saunders (55 goals, 28 assists, team-high 45 steals); Sr. goalie Alex Musselman (280 saves); Sr. center Diana Murphy (co-team high 79 goals, 41 steals); Jr. attacker Cassidy Papa (co-team high 79 goals, 41 assists, 42 steals); Jr. attacker Ally McCormick (61 goals, team-high 64 assists)

Five is the maximum amount of times the Corona del Mar and Newport Harbor high school girls' water polo teams can meet in a season. The Sea Kings and Sailors have already met this year in the Battle of the Bay, the Holiday Cup third-place game and the championship games of the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions and Irvine Southern California Championships. That's four. The fifth game could be on the biggest stage of all, for the CIF Southern Section Division I championship.