Orange County May Face Tougher Urban Runoff Curbs

Go to the mouth of the San Gabriel River in Seal Beach, and you’ll usually see two things: a flock of long-board surfers drawn by the warm water and long rides, and black-and-yellow signs warning of a health hazard in the water.

The dangerous conditions can’t be blamed on a sewage spill or irresponsible factory operators dumping toxic goo.

No, the river has been fouled by water spilling from local streets and storm drains on its 29-mile course from the San Gabriel Mountains to the Pacific Ocean.

Along the way, the river absorbs runoff containing car oil, pet waste, pesticides and myriad other contaminants that wash off 635 square miles of asphalt, lawns and other patches of urban landscape.

Only when this noxious stew reaches the ocean do most people see the environmental damage and health risks posed by runoff.

Finding ways to prevent and clean up this pollution has been an elusive goal of federal and state environmental agencies for decades. In California, it is a multibillion-dollar problem that often has developers, environmentalists and local governments at odds.

As early as next month, state water officials who enforce the federal Clean Water Act in Orange County may enact sweeping standards about what the county and its cities must do to stop polluted urban runoff from tainting creeks, streams and shorelines.

The new rules will cover a host of ways to improve local water quality: from the mundane--how often street gutters must be cleaned--to the dramatic--whether builders must install new technology to prevent runoff in nearly every new development.

But because of those regulations, the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board is being criticized on all fronts.

Environmentalists accuse the agency of failing to adopt what they say are more effective and aggressive actions taken in Los Angeles and San Diego. Instead, they say that the board, which has jurisdiction over northern and central Orange County, is catering to the needs of powerful developers and local governments at the ocean’s expense.

Builders, meanwhile, argue that the standards will require costly improvements that will drive up housing costs and still not lead to cleaner water. The county and cities are split.

All this comes at a time when builders are crafting blueprints for some of the last great expanses of developable land in Orange County, meaning that the five-year permit will have an effect far beyond its life span.

“The fundamental purpose of this permit is to address the No. 1 source of water pollution in Orange County,” said David Beckman, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Los Angeles office. “There is nothing more important that the board will do in the next five years.”

The regional water board is charged with enacting the standards under the Clean Water Act’s mandate to make all American waters swimmable and fishable. Urban runoff, which brings unhealthy bacteria, heavy metals and other pollutants to the ocean, is public enemy No. 1 in this fight.

Scientists at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore reported last month that more than half of all waterborne disease outbreaks in the United States in the last half a century followed a period of heavy rainfall and subsequent runoff.

But with all the unhappiness among activists and builders, and with millions of dollars in added cleanup at stake, whatever action the water board takes in Orange County will probably be appealed, all sides concede.

The proposed standards anger environmentalists, who say they are vague and unenforceable and fall short of tougher regulations being imposed in nearby counties.

“North of Orange County and south of Orange County, the water boards have significantly improved the quality of their storm-water permits,” Beckman said. “Orange County is sort of an island unto itself right now with a substandard approach to the region’s No. 1 source of water pollution.”

Environmentalist Garry Brown said the proposed rules fail to protect marine resources and would cause already degraded waters to get worse.

But Kurt Berchtold, the regional water board’s assistant executive officer, said the plan is just a different approach to solving the problem.

“We believe there’s potential in the regional approach because it would have the ability to address not just new development but existing development,” he said. “It could result in more effective water-quality [protection] long-term.”

One of the biggest points of contention is how major new developments should deal with runoff--including subdivisions of 10 or more homes, commercial projects larger than 100,000 square feet and major redevelopment projects, such as the addition of a large parking lot.

In Los Angeles County, state water officials adopted standards for such developments requiring that the first three-quarters of an inch of rainfall be cleansed before it leaves a property. San Diego County has similar requirements.

This is thought crucial because the first rainfall is often the dirtiest, picking up pet waste, fertilizer and other contaminants that have accumulated on streets and lawns.

Many expected the Orange County storm-water runoff standards to follow suit. Instead, the current proposal gives the county and cities two years to develop a more regional approach to clean runoff.

One idea proposed by the Irvine Ranch Water District would send runoff from new and existing developments to artificial wetlands built miles away. Existing wetlands already help to purify runoff flowing through them to the shore. But less than 5% of Southern California’s coastal wetlands remain, because of development that occurred over the last century.

Some environmentalists want more immediate results.

Developers and municipalities already have had years to clean up their act and have failed, said Daniel Cooper of Attorneys for Clean Water. The proposed rules for Orange County would let them continue to do nothing for another two years, he said.

However, building industry representatives, such as Laer Pearce, are thrilled about a regional approach to treating runoff.

“Everyone I talk to commends the Santa Ana regional board for trying to have a voice of reason,” he said.

Still, developers are unhappy with other facets of the proposed rules, some of which they believe would actually undermine the regional approach.

For instance, the proposed standards would require all water bodies to meet state standards even if runoff flows into them.

Before the runoff enters an artificial wetland, it would be dirty, and therefore out of compliance, said Tim Piasky, environmental affairs director for the Building Industry Assn. of Southern California.

“It basically puts everyone in noncompliance from Day One,” he said.

Newport Beach Deputy City Manager Dave Kiff said that increasing public awareness about how each resident’s actions can make a difference could reduce costly cleanups and keep pollutants out of runoff in the first place.