Water Board

Paul Clinton NEWPORT-MESA -- The local water board's tentative rewrite of the rule book relating to how cities must handle polluted water heading into the county's storm drains has already come under fire. Environmentalists don't think it has enough teeth. Builders say it's too stringent. Coastal cities like Newport Beach worry it doesn't require more. Inland cities say it requires too much. It seems, at least at this point, everyone has a critique to offer.

Paul Clinton UPPER NEWPORT BAY -- Water-quality regulators are investigating Caltrans to determine if the agency should be doing a better job of cleaning up urban runoff from the Eastern Toll Road into Upper Newport Bay. The state water board launched the investigation after a South County environmentalist filed a complaint. "The question is really whether Caltrans is responsible for controlling the quality of the runoff to minimize the amount of pollution" flowing into the bay, said Kurt Berchtold, assistant executive officer with the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board.

Running a water district can be a thankless job. People just expect that they will always be able to turn the tap and have good, clean water come out of it. Anything less would probably cause a revolution. So it is with a compliment that we say for some 20 years Karl Kemp, for the most part, ran the Mesa Consolidated Water District without creating many ripples. That's not to say he didn't have his share of rough waves, even some gushers to contend with.

Paul Clinton CRYSTAL COVE -- The state water board on Thursday slapped down Caltrans's appeal of a lower board's order to clean up storm-water runoff into the cove. While the California Department of Transportation lost its appeal of the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board's Nov. 16 cleanup order, the agency was given a one-year extension to implement a plan. The transportation agency had questioned the regional board's claim that rain water flowing from Coast Highway into Crystal Cove was illegal in an appeal filed Dec. 15. The cove, one of 35 "Areas of Special Biological Significance" in the state, falls under rules laid out in the state's 1972 Ocean Plan.

Paul Clinton CRYSTAL COVE -- The state water board has endorsed a decision by its regional counterpart that holds the state's transportation department liable for storm-water runoff into the cove. The Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board's statements came Tuesday in a preliminary report circulated in advance of an April 4 hearing on the validity of the California Department of Transportation's appeal of a cleanup order. Caltrans had appealed the regional water board's Nov. 16 cease-and-desist order that set a two-year timeline for cleaning up runoff into Crystal Cove.

Alex Coolman A regional water board slapped a cease-and-desist order on the Irvine Co. and two state agencies Thursday, demanding they stop discharges of urban runoff at Crystal Cove State Park Beach. The Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board voted unanimously to pass the order, sounding a decisive note in an environmental argument that has been lengthy and confusing. "The words [of the relevant law] are clear from our point of view," said Ted Cobb, a lawyer for the board.

Alex Coolman The Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board on Tuesday said it is considering levying more than $10,000 in fines against Standard Pacific Homes, the company that in September spilled a large quantity of muck and water into Crystal Cove. The proposed $10,350 fine is a response to a Sept. 12 incident in which a bulkhead failed at a Standard Pacific construction site above Crystal Cove, sending about 6,000 gallons of water into the ocean.

The Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board announced this week that it will rule on the possibility of issuing a cease-and-desist order against the Irvine Co.'s dumping of water at Crystal Cove State Park. The water board will consider the question at its Nov. 16 meeting. State water officials are trying to determine if it is illegal to discharge water at environmentally sensitive areas like Crystal Cove. The state's decision could theoretically preempt the regional board's threatened action of enforcement.

Alex Coolman CRYSTAL COVE -- The battle between environmentalists and the Irvine Co. over the subject of storm water discharges shifts to Sacramento today, where the state water board will discuss its rules for determining which areas of the coast deserve special protection. The meeting has the potential to affect regulations for 34 regions of California coastline, including Crystal Cove, that are considered "areas of special biological significance" under the state's Ocean Plan.