The Battle of Aliso Creek

Under the gun from regional officials to clean up one of Orange County’s most polluted waterways, local officials have launched a spate of measures to stop highly polluted runoff from entering Aliso Creek.

The recent efforts include diverting the main source of pollution, setting aside significant local funding and engaging in extensive public outreach.

The efforts drew praise from regional water board officials, who ordered Laguna Niguel and Orange County months ago to purify the polluted waterway, and who had been highly critical of the cleanup efforts.

Last week, the city began diverting about 100,000 gallons of tainted runoff a day from a key storm channel to a Moulton-Niguel Water District sewage treatment plant in Laguna Niguel.

Tuesday night, the public works department asked the city to allocate $518,000 to combat the pollution in its budget for the next fiscal year. City officials will have spent $140,000 in tax money by the end of this year on cleanup efforts.

“The city has been doing a heck of a lot and will be doing a lot more before this is over,” said Ken Montgomery, Laguna Niguel’s director of public works.

“I’m happy--that’s action,” said Wayne Baglin, chairman of the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board. “They’re acknowledging it’s a problem area with health risks. It’s so far ahead of where we were a year ago, when the county and city were in denial.”

Pollution has plagued Aliso Creek, which drains more than 34 square miles from the Santa Ana Mountains to the Pacific Ocean off Laguna Beach, where swimmers are regularly warned about health risks. Urban runoff--trash, chemicals and other pollutants washed from streets and lawns into storm drains and area waterways--is a perpetual problem.

Concerns are focused on a storm channel that drains the Kite Hill neighborhood and seven smaller subdivisions, where fecal bacteria counts are especially high--once reaching 225 times the allowable health standard. Runoff from the channel flows into Sulphur Creek, then Aliso Creek, then the ocean.

The chronic pollution prompted the San Diego regional water board in December to order Laguna Niguel and Orange County to clean up the creek, prevent future pollution, monitor water quality weekly and submit quarterly progress reports. The city and county still face fines of up to $5,000 per day or lawsuits if they fail to comply.

Pollution levels at the mouth of the storm channel still do not meet health standards. Statistics from February through May show water leaving the channel contained fecal coliform levels at least three times--and sometimes more than 25 times--the allowable amount.

On Tuesday, county workers erected a fence blocking off parts of Sulphur Creek and its channel. The fence will protect kids, hikers, mountain bikers and drivers from numerous hazards, including the tainted water and a steep drop.

This month, researchers from UC Irvine, USC and the Southern California Coastal Waters Research Project will begin testing waters to try to determine the cause of the pollution entering the channel.

Education and peer pressure are key to eliminating the problem once and for all, Montgomery said.

A recent survey of 1,418 households shows pet waste is likely a strong component of the pollution. City officials also say over-watering of lawns is contributing to the problem. City employees will be meeting with the eight homeowners’ associations whose neighborhoods drain into the storm channel.

Roger von Butow,founder of the Clean Water Now! Coalition, said he is encouraged by the city’s efforts, but questions why officials still haven’t found the cause of the pollution entering the channel.

“It’s obvious they’re trying,” he said. But “if they can’t find the source, then all of these things are like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.”