Saddleback/South Beach : LAGUNA BEACH : Water Districts Focus on Creek Pollution

Putting aside their differences, seven of South County’s largest water districts Tuesday joined an informal task force to help keep Aliso Creek clean.

The districts and county environmental and health officials were invited by Orange County Supervisor Thomas F. Riley and state Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach) to discuss solutions to the pollution problem that has caused popular Aliso Beach to be closed frequently over the decades.

Recently, conflicts have erupted among water districts that belong to the Aliso Water Management Agency, a powerful umbrella agency for the seven water districts serving more than200,000 south Orange County residents.

“Despite all the controversy and conflict over all these years,” Bergeson said, “it’s very heartening that they’re not tossing bricks at each other but sitting down and talking over their differences.”

The 12-mile creek, which starts near Cook’s Corner in Trabuco Canyon and meanders southwest to Aliso Beach, has carried an increasing number of harmful sewage spills and urban runoff that reach the sea and force beach closures.

“This is an ongoing, long-term problem,” said Laguna Beach Mayor Ann Christoph, who attended Tuesday’s meeting, “that has gotten incrementally more troublesome.”

“The fact that all these water districts and county officials are here is an indication there is a crisis,” she said.

The most recent spill occurred June 20, when 16,000 gallons of partially treated sewage dumped into the creek reached the ocean and caused county health officials to bar public use of the beach for three days. In 1994, the beach has been closed for 16 days because of creek pollution.

Christian M. Smith, a co-founder of Surfrider Foundation’s Laguna Beach chapter, had insisted on a formal task force for Aliso Creek, saying that water-borne illnesses are plaguing swimmers and surfers. He also took exception with the county’s method for counting illnesses, which showed no illnesses were reported by swimmers in a 2 1/2-year period from January, 1992, to September, 1994.