Funding Sought for Diversion of Runoff

Ever since polluted waters forced closure of more than four miles of Huntington Beach shoreline for much of last summer, coastal cities have been taking a hard look at diverting runoff from streets, washes and storm drains into local sewage treatment facilities.

Now the county of Orange and five coastal cities that depend heavily on tourism dollars are seeking $1.2 million from various sources to pay for as many as 30 storm drain and pump station diversions from Huntington Beach to San Clemente.

And 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 diverting storm drains is merely a temporary solution, that something must be done regionally to prevent oil, anti-freeze, pesticides and animal wastes and other debris from entering storm drains and making it 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 and 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 want to do our part in this, and we’re attempting to work at a comprehensive solution,” Huntington Beach deputy city administrator Richard Barnard said.

“Diversions are only a part, and we’re looking at a whole series of actions, including having upstream residents recognize how they contribute to the problem.”

The city has approved plans to divert runoff from its seven pump stations by April 15.

Baglin, a former Laguna Beach councilman, supported such projects while on the council because the city had been plagued with beach closures from contaminated runoff at Aliso Creek.

The projects will only succeed, Baglin said, if the problem is tackled regionally and the public educated about the environmental dangers of sending toxic materials down storm drains.

“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.”

The county has promoted its picturesque 42-mile coastline, which annually draws 35 million visitors. But as more development has occurred, especially in south Orange County, paving over the natural terrain that once served as a sponge to absorb rainfall, it has sent greater amounts of urban runoff and with it pollutants down streams and into the ocean.

“We’re for these diversions and glad it’s happening, but I hope the public doesn’t get the idea this will solve the urban runoff problem,” said Chris Evans, Surfrider Foundation executive director.

“It won’t. We’re talking about changing our lifestyles here.”

In Laguna Beach, storm-drain projects vary in cost from $10,000 to $30,00 each, including one at the city’s popular Main Beach.

Construction is simple with a valve that shuts the drain in dry months and diverts the flow into the sewage pipeline.

In winter months, the valve is opened because the flow from both runoff and sewage would overwhelm local sanitation districts, said Laguna Beach City Engineer Steve May.

Coastal city officials point to last summer’s high bacteria levels that forced a beach closure along 4.2 miles of oceanfront in Huntington Beach as a wake-up call that can’t be ignored.

Both urban runoff from storm drains and effluent from nearby Talbert Marsh have been suspected as sources for the pollutants.

“Our city is a bedroom community and also a destination resort,” said Ingrid McGuire, mayor of Dana Point, where more than two dozen storm-drain diversions are proposed.

“We receive our revenue stream from restaurants, hotels and bed and breakfasts businesses. But people will not repeatedly come to Dana Point if they think the ocean water is dirty. Just like Huntington Beach, our economic well-being is tied in to the water quality.”

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

In October, Orange 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 and alternatives.

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

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Diversion Tactics

To improve coastal water quality, six agencies will equally share $250,000 in grant funds to pay for storm drain diversions. The proposed projects:

* Dana Point, in partnership with the South Coast Water District, wants to divert 26 storm drains, starting at the southern end of Doheny Beach, through the county’s Capistrano Beach to the end of Beach Road. The project would divert 1.03 million gallons and reduce the use of potable water in sewer lines along Beach Road.

* Huntington Beach submitted five potential projects that would divert about 1,065,000 gallons of “nuisance water” into the sewer system.

* Laguna Beach submitted eight potential projects that would divert an estimated 14 million gallons of runoff at city beaches into the sewer system.

* Newport Beach submitted four projects, including three storm drain diversions: the Arches Interchange into Lower Newport Bay, the Dover/PCH Bridge drain emptying into the confluence of Upper and Lower Newport Bay, and El Paseo/Bahia Corinthian drain emptying into Lower Newport Harbor. The fourth project would divert a portion of Buck Gully and Little Corona stream flows into the sewer.

* San Clemente submitted two potential projects to construct diversion walls and install sump pumps to divert water to nearby manholes.

* The county’s Harbors, Beaches and Parks, in partnership with South Coast Water District, has initiated two interim diversion projects in Dana Point Harbor: plugging two drains at Baby Beach and pumping into a nearby manhole. The same process is being used to pump water from North Creek, adjacent to Puerto Place, into a manhole in Dana Harbor Drive. Permanent solutions include constructing a sump pump vault and installating pipe.

In addition, the agency has also finished installing the Aliso Creek diversion at the mouth of Aliso Creek, which will divert low-flow polluted runoff into the Aliso Water Management Agency outfall pipe. The project eliminates water with high bacteria levels from Aliso Beach.

Source: County of Orange