Questions of Beach Pollution at Crystal Cove

Re “Light at the End of the Tunnel for Crystal Cove Activists” (Sept. 16):

Laura Davick’s culvert climb is a fascinating piece in the continuing saga of the Irvine Co.’s Newport Coast development of the inland watershed directly above historic Crystal Cove.

Some interested citizens may have assumed that the final chapter was written by the California Coastal Commission at its August hearing. Conditions were imposed on acreage not yet under construction and on the Irvine Ranch Water District and future Master Assn. of Newport Coast for monitoring both flow and quality of future runoff.

Recent “treated sewer water” flows raise serious questions in the minds of all those concerned about the double jeopardy facing Crystal Cove Historic District: first, the continuing pollution of a public beach and supposedly protected area, and second, the conversion of a state park with its myriad natural, cultural and historic resources into a high-end, for-profit resort operation.

1. Is there any fail-safe solution to clean beaches and the water quality needed to sustain tide-pool and near-shore marine life other than limiting or denying urban development? If so, we must adopt that solution by initiative immediately.

2. Should park rangers be stationed on site to monitor system failures, mystery flows, mistakes?

3. Was the drainage pipe system discovered by Davick installed relying on the coastal drainage easements imposed “over, across, and under park property” by the Irvine Co.’s grant deed at the time of purchase? Would later enactment of the Ocean Act or state laws outlaw such easements?

4. Why isn’t the resort developer screaming about this threat to district premises?

JEANNETTE MERRILEES

Sierra Club Task Force

for Crystal Cove

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Congratulations to Davick and Brenda Stouffer for ferreting out the cause of the pollution in Crystal Cove. Why does it take this kind of effort to maintain a clean environment? All we need are developers with ethics. Nothing wrong with making money, and lots of it too, as long as there’s a high moral standard involved and a service that contributes to society. Wrecking the environment is not a high moral standard.

KAREN PHELPS

Laguna Beach