An Unwelcome Greening : Newport Bay Algae Bloom Traced to Fertilizer Runoff

Enormous amounts of fertilizer waste are still flowing into Newport Bay despite major improvements this year, sparking increased concern about the mysterious sources of the pollution that often produces a thick, green slime of algae on the bay.

The wastes, known as nitrate-nitrogen, which wash into the bay via San Diego Creek, declined by 73% this year because of new anti-pollution rules at large nurseries in Irvine. But more than half a ton a day still gets in, and the sources of most of that remain unknown, according to a new report to be discussed today at a meeting of the region’s water quality board.

“There’s still a considerable amount, and we don’t know where it’s from,” said Joanne Schneider, environmental programs manager for the state’s Regional Water Quality Control Board. “It can come from anywhere in the whole Orange County coastal plain up to the foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains.”

The substances, found in animal waste and human sewage, nourish algae in the upper bay, a state wildlife sanctuary used by many varieties of birds and fish, as well as the lower bay, a popular recreational area and boating harbor surrounded by multimillion-dollar homes.

Although some algae is normal, the waste contains nutrients that make algae much thicker and widespread than normal.

The most likely culprits are agricultural fields and residential yards, greenbelts and golf courses where fertilizer is used. Other possible sources include the natural rising of ground water and construction sites where old, underground water containing agricultural waste is disturbed.

The water quality board is expected to review the findings of its latest tests at a meeting in San Bernardino today, although no action will be taken on recommendations. The regional agency and the Orange County Environmental Management Agency have been conducting an ongoing sampling of the creek.

The staffs of both agencies are recommending that the Irvine Co.--the largest agricultural landowner in Orange County--assist in the search, perhaps by installing gauges in its fields to measure runoff. They also recommend an investigation of urban sources and a discussion of more stringent controls on nurseries.

Newport Bay is one of the most entrenched water-pollution problems in the county because it contains such a wide variety of wastes, from sewage dumped by boats to toxic metals from industrial runoff. Officials from Newport Beach and environmental agencies have been striving to clean up the bay since the early 1980s.

“Fifteen or 20 years ago, we didn’t have algae blooms in the bay at all,” said David Harshbarger, Newport Beach’s marine director. “There’s been a significant decrease in nitrogen loading this year, but it needs to be decreased even further, to the point where you don’t have those noticeable algae blooms.”

The algae has been a problem mostly in still-water areas, such as Newport Dunes and at Lido and Balboa beaches. The algae carpet is sometimes two inches thick, disgusting swimmers and sometimes blocking boats in Newport Harbor. It often also carries a strong fishy or rotten-egg stench.

“It’s almost a mat on the bay, like a green indoor-outdoor carpet,” Harshbarger said.

The peak period for the algae is April to July, when bright sunshine and warm water speed growth. But it can also be a year-round phenomenon. In fact, algae slicked the bay and beaches as recently as a week ago.

“As it got warmer, it appeared--lots of dark green stuff all over the water and on the beach,” said Shannon Martins, a sales representative at Newport Dunes Resort, where the beach was coated with algae one day last week.

“It’s here a lot,” she said. “I think most people here are used to it by now.”

Officials and citizens working to clean Newport Bay say algae blooms have been less noticeable in the lower bay in the last two years. But algae in the back bay--the ecological preserve--is worse.

“There has been a considerably worse problem in the upper bay,” said Lane Waldner, supervisor of the county’s environmental studies section. “We’re not sure why. Maybe the bay has finally reached the point where it can’t assimilate the nitrates coming out of San Diego Creek anymore. Maybe it’s reached its saturation point.”

Officials are worried that extremely thick algae blooms can cut off oxygen and suffocate fish and small marine life in the back bay.

“If the algae got really heavy or dense, it would actually keep life beneath it from surviving,” said John Scholl, naturalist for the state’s Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve. “If that happens, I would expect to see some crabs or other tidal invertebrates dying off in massive quantities.”

The wastes wash into the bay via San Diego Creek, its main tributary. The concrete-lined creek winds through residential, business and agricultural areas of Irvine and is fed by dozens of other storm channels that collect runoff from Newport Beach, Irvine, Tustin, Costa Mesa and Santa Ana.

Samples in San Diego Creek at Campus Drive--right before it flows into the bay--showed an average daily flow of 1,150 pounds of nitrate-nitrogen, a record low in recent years.

Dr. Jack Skinner, a physician and longtime Newport Beach resident credited with spurring efforts to clean up the bay, said: “We’re going in the right direction, but we really have significant problems still. That’s more than a healthy bay can really handle.”

Until recently, three Irvine nurseries that irrigate about 750 acres--Bordier’s Nursery, Hines Wholesale Nursery and El Modeno Gardens--were the primary sources of the problem, the report says. But four years ago, the water quality board limited the companies’ discharge into the creek, and the nurseries installed recycling or irrigation monitoring equipment.

Their fields are now responsible for less than 35% of the waste, or about 400 pounds a day, the report says. That means that most of it--an average of 750 pounds a day--is coming from unidentified sources.

Jo Anne Groot Beall, vice president of operations for El Modeno Gardens, said her company installed a computerized system that controls irrigation and fertilizer, cutting water use on its 95 acres by 30%. She said the environmental agencies should now concentrate on targeting other sources.

“We’re not the sole contributor,” she said. “We’re just an easily identifiable source. The nurseries have done a very good job.”

Waldner of the county’s environmental agency said Irvine Co. agricultural fields are prime suspects. But the report shows that a channel running through urban areas of Tustin also has high concentrations of the pollutant.

Irvine Co. officials said they are willing to discuss their role in the investigation, but they doubt that their fields are a large source.

“Most of our areas don’t lose water,” said Sat Tamaribuchi, senior director of environmental planning for the company. “There is no runoff from drip irrigation, and 80% of our 10,000 acres of agricultural fields use drip irrigation. There are 2,000 acres where we use sprinklers, and maybe we should take a look at them.”

There are no existing regulations on farm or residential runoff in Orange County, although the federal Environmental Protection Agency this year required local U.S. officials to begin addressing urban runoff into waterways.

The bay in recent years has become a high priority for cleanup, with various agencies joining to work on the project. Bacteria from sewage, which is a health threat to swimmers, and toxics such as pesticides and lead, which can kill marine life, are considered serious pollutants, along with the fertilizer wastes.

Newport Bay Pollution About 1,150 pounds of fertilizer wastes flow from San Diego Creek into Newport Bay daily,according to new samples of the creek taken at Campus Drive. The amount is down from previous years, but the nitrate-nitrogen still frequently creates a thick carpet of algae on the bay.About 35% comes from three upstream nurseries, but the sources of the rest are unknown. The most likely suspects are Irvine agricultural fields and urban runoff that flows into the creek.