Judge Suspends Permit to Release Treated Sewage in Newport Bay

Plans to dump hundreds of millions of gallons of highly treated sewage into Upper Newport Bay were temporarily halted Friday by a judge who said that studies to date have not proved that plants, birds and humans won’t be harmed.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Robert E. Thomas, siding with the Defend the Bay environmental group, said the Irvine Ranch Water District’s permit application did not fully support its contention that the project won’t damage the environment.

The judge’s action suspends a permit issued by the California Regional Water Quality Control Board for the controversial pilot project and requires the board to hold another hearing and reconsider the issue.

“I am thrilled,” said Bob Caustin, founder of Defend the Bay, which brought the suit. “It’s not the end of it. I’m sure they are going to try to fight it, but I’m optimistic we are going to succeed.”

Ken Thompson, water quality director for Irvine Ranch, said the ruling means the control board will have to do some additional work before the permit is permanently reinstated.

No date for a new hearing has been scheduled, but the board is expected to tackle the issue soon.

Thompson said he is certain the board will again side with Irvine Ranch, which has always maintained that the highly treated sewage they propose flushing through the coastal estuary is cleaner than the water in it now.

The water agency, which promoted the project as a way to save customers money on their water bills, was granted permission by the state in July 1996 to begin discharging highly treated sewage into the bay. After protests by residents and city officials, Irvine Ranch agreed to sell most of the reclaimed water to customers who wanted to irrigate greenbelts and golf courses. Another 3.2 million gallons were dumped into 70 acres of duck ponds each day to study whether it will be suitable for future flushing into Upper Newport Bay.

At the time, Irvine Ranch promised no reclaimed water would flow into either San Diego Creek or Newport Bay until at least winter 1998. At that point, millions of gallons per year of reclaimed water would be released there, under the permit.

The two sides in this ongoing dispute have constantly locked horns over the issue of the quality of the water.

Defend the Bay contends the water Irvine Ranch proposes to dump into the ecological reserve contains dangerous levels of heavy metals, phosphorous and organic materials.

“We are very concerned about the pollutants; the reclaimed water contains toxic heavy metals, like copper, and phosphorous and bacteria,” said Mark R. Wolfe, Defend the Bay’s attorney. “We were also extremely concerned with the impact of a chronic freshwater discharge into a saltwater environment.”

Irvine Ranch officials have never disputed that such pollutants exist in the reclaimed water. They do, however, argue that the pollutants exist at extremely low levels and are not dangerous to either the environment or humans.

Scientists who testified before the water quality board have been divided on the issue. The board has never decreed what concentration of a pollutant it considers dangerous. That agency is currently in the process of adopting those standards.

Newport Beach Mayor Thomas C. Edwards said that although the environmentalists won this round, they have not achieved their goal of ending the project forever.

City officials have opposed the project from the beginning. They too fear it would suffocate the marine life in the bay’s delicate environment. In the last few weeks, they have been negotiating with Irvine Ranch to further delay the start of the project.