NEWPORT BEACH : City May Act Today on Pesticide Appeal

The City Council is expected to endorse a letter today asking the state to halt the use of the toxic pesticide endosulfan in farmlands along the San Diego Creek drainage basin.

The request is a result of the Newport Beach Harbor Quality Committee’s discovery earlier this year that increased concentrations of the chemical have been found in shellfish in Newport Bay and in San Diego Creek, which drains into the bay.

The increased concentrations of endosulfan were discovered as a result of the state’s Mussel Watch Program, which involves planting clams or mussels in specific areas and retrieving them a couple of months later for examination.

According to Hope Smythe, environmental specialist for the Regional Water Quality Control Board, information regarding 1988 specimens was not gleaned until mid-1989. It showed a “huge increase from 1987 data,” she said.

Endosulfan is toxic to aquatic life but not lethal to humans, Smythe explained.

Orange County agriculture officials met Thursday with authorities from the environmental monitoring branch of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, which has been studying the use of endosulfan in Northern California.

Chief Deputy Agricultural Commissioner Frank Parsons said Friday that he plans this week to discuss the problem with the state Department of Fish and Game and with the Water Quality Control Board’s Santa Ana region officials.

“After we have made those additional contacts, we will make our decision regarding what kind of actions should be taken to mitigate,” Parson said.

Endosulfan is a “restricted material” and can be used only under permit, according to Parsons. Since the county agency has the power to refuse permits “locally and situationally,” use of the chemical could be banned in one area of the county or state and allowed in another, he added.

Although pesticides containing endosulfan are used throughout the county in agriculture, primarily on strawberries and peppers, any restriction of the chemical would most likely focus for the time being on farmlands in Tustin and Irvine that have water runoff into San Diego Creek, he said.