Chlorine Release Was Violation

An Irvine Co. contractor violated a state permit when it discharged 3,500 gallons of chlorinated water earlier this week into a creek that empties onto pristine Crystal Cove State Park, a state official said Friday.

“For a violation of this type, a monetary assessment is probably the type of remedy we would use,” said Kurt Berchtold, an assistant executive officer with the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board.

Berchtold said the Irvine Co. probably will face a fine of up to $10,000.

The chlorinated water was discharged into Los Trancos Creek, which drains onto the state beach, by Griffith Co. workers who were sterilizing pipelines at a residential construction site. The Irvine Ranch Water District requires that new lines be treated before they are connected to its system.

The Irvine Co. has a general permit from the water board that allows short-duration, low-level discharges. But the permit requires monitoring and limits chlorine discharges to less than 0.1 milligrams per liter, a level undetectable by smell, Berchtold said.

“Clearly, the contractor was not following the established policies and guidelines of the Irvine Co. and those required under the . . . permit,” said Paul Kranhold, spokesman for the Irvine Co. “I can’t say right now for sure” whether the developer or the contractor will pay the fine.

Griffith Co. Vice President Tom Foss said that although previous discharges were monitored, the final discharge was not. The chlorinated water had been sitting in the pipeline for several days before it was discharged, and the line was flushed with 27,000 gallons of water Monday, which led workers to believe the chlorine would be sufficiently diluted.

But environmentalists reported a strong chlorine odor to state and federal authorities Monday. Based on their accounts of the strength of the odor, Berchtold said preliminary findings indicate the chlorine levels were 1 to 10 milligrams per liter, which is 10 to 100 times the permissible level.

Chlorine can be extremely toxic to aquatic life, but investigators from the state Department of Fish and Game and the U.S. Coast Guard found no environmental damage Tuesday.

The spill prompted the Irvine Co. to implement new measures that prevent construction runoff from leaving the site, such as diverting future discharges to a sewer treatment plant or possibly collecting them on the site, Kranhold said.