Appeal Filed Over Bay Water Dumping
A newly formed group dedicated to Newport Bay protection has filed an appeal with the state to overturn a recent decision to release millions of gallons of recycled water into the bay.
Defend the Bay filed the appeal with the State Water Resources Control Board over the decision by the State Water Quality Control Board to release the water.
The resources board is considering a meeting to review the request for a stay after Sept. 4, the deadline to submit responses to the appeal.
Group founder Bob Caustin wants to stop the Irvine Ranch Water District’s plan to discharge the treated waste water daily into Upper Newport Bay.
Although the city and the water agency agreed that the reclaimed water will go to the Orange County Water District so that it could be sold, Caustin says the agreement isn’t insurance that reclaimed water will not flow into the bay in the future.
“The decision [the city] made is wrong. . . . They lost all their weapons to defend the bay from any future dumping,” said Caustin, who is on the state’s technical advisory committee. “The only solution to get [the district] not to dump treated sewage is for us to prevail either at the state or federal level.”
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