Agreement Reached on Disposal of Waste Water

Three government entities Tuesday announced a deal under which 4.6 million gallons of treated waste water will be sold daily to customers and used for irrigation of greenbelts and golf courses.

The agreement in principle between Newport Beach, the Irvine Ranch Water District and the Orange County Water District would supersede a plan--approved by the state two weeks ago--to allow the emptying of millions of gallons of highly treated sewage into Upper Newport Bay each day during winter months. The scientific community was divided over that proposal, which was opposed by Newport Beach and an environmental group.

Under the deal struck Tuesday, another 3.2 million gallons of treated waste water will be dumped into 70 acres of duck ponds each day for study by a coalition of scientists to determine if the reclaimed water is suitable for future flushing into Upper Newport Bay, an ecological reserve.

An elaborate pump system will prevent the reclaimed water from flowing into San Diego Creek and Upper Newport Bay.

The accord “gives the project and its science a chance to prove itself and leaves the door open to clean up the watershed,” said Ron Young, general manager of the Irvine Ranch Water District. “We all have the common goal of improving the water quality of the back bay.”

The accord culminates more than three months of negotiations. The Newport Beach City Council approved the plan at a meeting Tuesday night.

“The outcry has been over the discharge of the water into the bay, and our legal options are less likely to succeed than this particular agreement,” Councilman Thomas C. Edwards said.

The boards of the Irvine Ranch Water District and Orange County Water District are expected to approve the trilateral agreement when they meet today.

The wetlands water project “has raised the level of awareness in the community about the quality of water in the bay,” Newport Beach City Manager Kevin J. Murphy said at a news conference Tuesday morning. “We are glad, after all these grueling negotiations, that we are able to sit down and be happy about it.”

On July 1, the Irvine Ranch Water District won approval from the California Regional Water Quality Control Board to release 5 million gallons of treated sewage daily into 70 acres of duck ponds in the San Joaquin Freshwater Marsh Reserve in Irvine. Under that plan, the water would then flow to San Diego Creek and the bay.

The plan was designed to save the water district’s customers $15 million over 25 years.

Opponents of the plan had maintained that mixing fresh water with the bay’s marine saltwater would damage its fragile ecosystem.

Instead, the agreement for the new plan, known as “Green Acres,” would send most of the water to the Orange County Water District, which would sell it to customers for use in irrigating large green areas. Irvine Ranch Water District customers would still achieve the $15 million in savings originally proposed.

The alternative project would link the three agencies with new pipelines to allow the transfer of reclaimed water. The Orange County Water District will bear most of the approximately $9 million in construction costs and will manage the project.

Under the terms of the agreement, Newport Beach will not pursue an appeal of the state Regional Water Quality Control Board’s decision to allow the project. The city also promised not to litigate the adequacy of scientific reports supporting the project.

At the same time, the city promised it will help the Irvine Ranch Water District seek changes in a state bill that would make it illegal to discharge recycled water into the Upper Newport Bay. The changes would make the legislation consistent with the agreement announced Tuesday.

But environmental activist Bob Caustin, who formed Defend the Bay about a year ago, fears that the agreement could tie the city’s hands and leave it vulnerable to any future plans the Irvine Ranch Water District might have to dump additional water into the bay.

“There are still too many issues that are left unresolved in the agreement,” Caustin said about the water monitoring process.