State to Allow Treated Water Into O.C. Bay

Hundreds of millions of gallons of highly treated waste water will be flushed each year into the ecologically sensitive Upper Newport Bay under a controversial pilot program approved by the state Monday.

After a two-year battle with environmentalists and Newport Beach city officials, the Irvine Ranch Water District received final approval to release 5 million gallons of treated sewage water daily into 70 acres of duck ponds in the San Joaquin Marsh in Irvine. The water will then flow to San Diego Creek and the bay.

Water district officials say they can save their customers as much as $15 million over 25 years by flushing the water into the bay, and that it actually will benefit the ecosystem. Environmentalists and Newport Beach officials argue the project will suffocate marine life.

“This will affect the ecosystem negatively because it can kill off the animal life,” said Newport Beach resident Bob Caustin, founder of Defend the Bay, a group formed last summer to stop the project.

But district officials said the water will be so safe you could swim in it.

Irvine Ranch Water District President Darryl Miller, referring to about 900 letters the district had received opposing the flushing, told the board Monday, “The reason we had so much opposition to the project was because of a handful of people spreading misinformation. This project has been sound from the very beginning.”

Local environmentalists, led by Defend the Bay, and Newport Beach city officials say there still are too many unanswered questions about the impact of mixing large amounts of freshwater with bay’s natural saltwater.

Additionally, they argued during a lengthy hearing before the California Regional Water Quality Control Board on Monday that introducing the treated water into the bay could dramatically increase algae, a plant that reduces oxygen in the water and suffocates marine life.

The state board acknowledged that there remain some uncertainties about the impact of the project, but determined that there were enough safeguards to monitor and minimize any possible damage. The board gave the water district two years to demonstrate the project’s benefits to the bay.

State scientists have said that the treated waste water, known as reclaimed water, is a grade lower than drinking water and is cleaner than the urban runoff that currently flows into the bay. Typically, storm drain water contains motor oil and other fuels that drain off city streets.

State scientists disputed the environmentalists’ claims and contended that the reclaimed water would actually improve the ecosystem by minimizing the algae bloom.

Under state law, no water agency can discharge water into an ecological reserve or its tributaries unless there is a clear benefit. The board approved the plan 5 to 1 with Evelyn R. Hart, a former Newport Beach councilwoman, as the lone dissenter.

“If for any reason we’ve overstepped our bounds, we can shut off the project within minutes,” board member Jerry A. King said.

But such assurances were not enough for many opponents who packed the hearing.

“There are a lot of unknowns,” said Nancy Skinner, a longtime activist opposed to the project.

“For the board to take this is action is a step backward,” she said.

Defend the Bay vowed to appeal the decision to the State Water Resource Control Board. Newport Beach officials will consider similar action at the next City Council meeting.

Newport Bay has been used as a harbor since the late 1800s. In 1975, 752 acres of productive wetlands habitat were established as a reserve and put under the protection of the state Department of Fish and Game, which has approved the flushing project.

Most of the bay is exposed at low tide and consists of intertidal mud flats and an extensive salt marsh community of cordgrass, pickleweed, salt grass, jaumea and the endangered salt marsh bird’s beak.

More than half of the state’s breeding pairs of the endangered light-footed clapper rail make their home in the bay. The reserve is used extensively by migrating shorebirds and waterfowl.

Irvine Ranch Water Ranch officials say they can both enhance the bay and save millions of dollars by flushing the reclaimed water through the ponds. The savings will be passed on to water users.

The Irvine Ranch district now pays the Orange County Sanitation Districts several million dollars a year to dispose of the water.

The permit hearing was postponed four times in the last six months at the request of Irvine Ranch Water District officials. Although the district didn’t need city approval, district officials were seeking the city’s blessings before it came before the state board.

For weeks, Newport Beach, Irvine Ranch Water District and the Orange County Water District had been studying alternative uses for Irvine Ranch’s surplus reclaimed water.

But last week an alternative plan that would have channeled the water to uses such as golf course and parks irrigation stalled when the three agencies involved could not agree on funding. Irvine Ranch then sought a permit for releasing the water to the bay.

Flushing will occur during non-summer months. Irvine Ranch is free to start the project whenever it wants but it must contend with possible appeals, litigation and a pending state bill proposed by Assemblywoman Marilyn C. Brewer (R-Irvine) that would make such disposal of treated water into an ecological reserve illegal.

District officials said they would let the appeals run their course before they start releasing the treated sewage water.

Also contributing to this report was Times staff writer Matt Lait.