O.C., Cities Seek Funds to Deal With Runoff

Orange County and five beach cities that depend heavily on tourism dollars are seeking $1.2 million from various funding sources to pay for the diversion and cleanup of polluted urban runoff that now drains into the ocean.

The move comes after more than four miles of the popular Huntington Beach shoreline was closed for much of last summer because of polluted sea water.

Orange County supervisors have approved $460,000 to improve coastal water quality in the dry months by redirecting storm drain effluent laden with bacteria and toxic compounds to sewage treatment plants.

But at least one elected water official and some environmentalists say such diversion is merely a temporary solution and that something must be done regionally to prevent oil, antifreeze, pesticides, animal waste and other debris from entering storm drains and flowing to local waterways and beaches.

“We need to get to the source of the pollution and eliminate it there. Diversion is only temporary and a Band-Aid approach,” said Wayne Baglin, chairman of the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board, which oversees part of Orange County’s watershed.

Some communities, such as Malibu and Huntington Beach, have moved slowly to reduce urban runoff to area beaches because of the complexity and cost. Others--led by Santa Monica, Los Angeles, Laguna Beach and San Diego--are pioneering ways to divert pollution from their coastlines.

In Orange County, Laguna Beach has been at the vanguard and now has six completed drains, with plans to construct 14 more.

Coastal city officials acknowledged that the projects represent short-term solutions to a larger regional problem of controlling urban runoff. Storm drain diversion projects are a start, however, they said.

“We have to work with the common person, the residents, and then the businesses and get them off of denial,” Baglin said. “Right now, we’re not even on their radar screen. I think we have our work cut out for another generation here.”

Orange County has promoted its picturesque 42-mile coastline, which annually draws 35 million visitors. But as more natural terrain that once absorbed rainfall has been paved over, especially in the southern county, greater amounts of pollution-laden urban runoff have been sent down streams and into the ocean.

With so many diversions planned into sewer pipelines, county sanitation officials are cautious about overloading treatment facilities.

In October, the county’s largest sanitation agency granted a permit allowing Huntington Beach to divert storm drain runoff into its treatment facilities. But the agency also has told the city it cannot handle both sewage and runoff from major winter storms, said Robert P. Ghirelli, the Orange County Sanitation District’s manager of technical services.

The agency recently hired a consultant to study the impact and feasibility of treating all urban runoff and its effects on the facilities at capacity.

“We should have an answer in 30 to 60 days,” Ghirelli said.