Step Carefully With Upper Bay

A judge is being properly cautious in evaluating plans to pump treated sewage into Upper Newport Bay.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Robert E. Thomas last month suspended a permit from the California Regional Water Quality Control Board that allowed the pumping. The judge also required the board to hold another hearing and reconsider the issue.

Upper Newport Bay is an ecologically sensitive nature reserve that supports a complex system of reeds, water and grasses. It also is home to an endangered species of bird, the light-footed clapper rail.

On the same day Thomas ordered the delay, a host of elected officials turned out to inaugurate a massive, $5.4-million dredging project in part of the bay.

Over the years, silt from nearby hills has poured down and overwhelmed catch basins. When that happens, the dirt continues into the bay, raising the bottom and rearranging the natural order.

The reserve is owned and operated by the state Department of Fish and Game and Orange County. A deservedly central position at the ceremonies to commemorate the start of dredging was given to Frank Robinson. With his wife, Frances, he has spent more than three decades fighting to keep Upper Newport Bay as natural as possible, warding off various proposals for development.

The dredging is expected to take a year, with more than 800,000 cubic yards of mud being taken off the back bay bottom and dumped 4 1/2 miles out to sea. The project should have begun several years ago. But problems finding the necessary money caused delays that kept making the silt buildup worse.

The last dredging project in the bay was more than a decade ago. In recent months, boaters worried about running aground because of the buildup. Worse, the number of birds wintering in the bay had dwindled as the mud covered their food supply.

Upper Newport Bay has a special place in Orange County. The shores are a wonderful place to walk, bicycle or just pause and observe nature. Two weeks ago, nearly 30 county artists offered a graphic tribute to the bay by setting up their easels along the shore and painting the vistas before them. Part of the proceeds from the sale of their works will be earmarked to help pay for the dredging project.

The Irvine Ranch Water District, which wants to pump treated sewage into the bay, insists that what is pumped will be cleaner than the water in it now. But the organization Defend the Bay contends the water would contain dangerous levels of heavy metals, phosphorus and organic materials.

The district has scaled back its plans since first proposing them several years ago, but it still has to do a better job of assuring Orange County residents that it will not irreparably harm the bay.