Cleanup Should Be a Cooperative Effort : * Aliso Creek Is Best Helped When Agencies’ Finger-Pointing Is Replaced by Action

Despite its bucolic name, Aliso Creek has evolved into an urban stream not much different from dozens that carry water away from business and residential areas in Orange County. It should come as no surprise, then, that the creek is laced with debris--lawn fertilizers, litter, motor oil, pesticides and many other contaminants. By the time Aliso Creek dumps into the Pacific Ocean at Laguna Beach, the quality of its water is poor. During seasonal rainfall, it’s even worse.

What should--or could--be done about it? One thing that would help is if the agencies involved in protecting water quality would stop pointing fingers at each other. They and the public would be better served if more attention was devoted to investigating measures that might help.

Part of the problem in finding solutions is that there are differing perceptions of what Aliso Creek is and should be. Some view it as a traditional stream that should be able to support fish and other wildlife, and so must be restored. Others see it mainly serving a watershed area and being useful for flood control. Obviously, if you’re in the latter camp, you may not be as concerned that the tiny tidewater goby seems to have disappeared entirely from the creek in recent years, according to a researcher from the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

The city of Laguna Beach, a member of the Aliso Water Management Agency, which owns four sewage-treatment plants in the creek’s watershed, has asked the agency to look into ways to better clean up the creek’s water before it reaches the ocean. But building a facility that could do that takes money, including a sizable commitment from the city. By the way, some believe that the treated sewage water carried off by pipelines along the creek is of better quality than the runoff from the watershed area that finds its way into Aliso Creek.

Everyone agrees that one of the cheapest ways to improve water quality in the creek is for residents to be more conscious of how their individual behavior affects water quality. For example, motor oil that is dumped into the ground instead of being properly disposed of will eventually find its way into the ocean.

One good thing: A chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, a statewide group of ecology-minded surfers, is organizing in the area to focus on the Aliso Creek issue.

That important step should provide a lightning rod for local concerns about the stream and its impact on the ocean.