District Honored for Marsh Work
The Assn. of California Water Agencies has honored the Irvine Ranch Water District for restoration work done on the San Joaquin Marsh area.
The group of statewide water agencies gave the district its Theodore Roosevelt Environmental Award for the work, which is credited with improving the quality of water flowing into Newport Bay and the Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve.
The marsh-restoration effort took more than 10 years of planning in consultation with local, state and federal agencies. It involved some expansion of the former wetlands area and diversion of the water to capture and help reduce the flow of sediment and nutrients entering the bay.
“The water is diverted into the wetlands and cleaned through natural processes,” district spokeswoman Joyce Wegner-Gwidt said. “The process removes the nitrates and other sediment so that when the water goes into the San Diego Creek and back into the back bay, it’s of a much better quality.”
In turn, the marsh, which is near UC Irvine and bounded by the San Diego Creek, Michelson and Carlson drives, now boasts a lush variety of vegetation and flocks of migratory fowl.
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