O.C. Agencies Fined for Role in Polluting Area Estuaries

Two Orange County agencies have been fined $175,000 for polluting sensitive coastal estuaries.

The Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board fined the county’s Integrated Waste Management Department $125,000 last week and the Public Facilities and Resources Department $50,000 on March 23.

The Frank R. Bowerman Landfill in Irvine, run by the waste department, accidentally released 100,000 gallons of refuse- and sediment-laden water into a tributary of Upper Newport Bay during rain storms in late February and also failed to report the action to officials, said Dixie Lass, chief of the landfill disposal section for the Santa Ana regional board.

John W. Sibley, director of the waste department, acknowledged the failure: “It’s our responsibility and I’m not shirking it. Having one fine is a lot for me. I take this very seriously.”

Sibley said he must consult with the county Board of Supervisors before deciding whether to pay the fine or ask for a public hearing before the regional board, which is already scheduled to consider issuing a cease-and-desist order against the department at its May 19 meeting.

Water board inspectors investigating the landfill incident also discovered that a nearby collecting basin was poorly designed and may have been contributing silt and sediment into a tributary of Newport Bay--among the county’s most contaminated water bodies--since the landfill opened in 1990.

Sibley said he will be meeting with state and county officials to remedy the problem. Kurt Berchtold, assistant executive officer of the Santa Ana board, said he plans to discuss the matter further with colleagues.

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This is the third fine levied by the board in the past 1 1/2 years for violations at the landfill by the department--a significant number of infractions--Berchtold said. In April 1999, the department was fined $116,800 for discharging storm water that contained volatile organic compounds, dissolved minerals and other liquids from decomposing garbage, Lass said.

In March 1999, it was fined $10,000 for releasing 18,300 gallons of drainage water from below the landfill, water that was contaminated by volatile organic compounds, Lass said.

The Public Facilities and Resources Department also was fined $50,000 last month for releasing 11,000 gallons of water that contained sediment, bacteria and heavy metals into Anaheim Bay. The discharge occurred when workers were hosing out a stormwater pump station near the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Center, Berchtold said.

The regional board suspended $15,000 of the fine since the county was willing to create an employee training program to prevent such discharges from reoccurring. County officials waived their right to a public hearing and paid the remaining $35,000, Berchtold said.