Caltrans to Fix Drains on Tollway

Under pressure by state water-quality regulators, Caltrans vowed Wednesday to fix dozens of drain filters on the San Joaquin Hills toll road that have failed to clean contaminated storm water that runs off the highway and into local watersheds.

The state transportation agency made the pledge shortly before the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board voted unanimously to impose a permanent cease-and-desist order to correct violations of the agency’s state permit to discharge water from the toll road.

Caltrans, which faces stiff fines if it balks at the order, promised to repair 20 filter systems under the jurisdiction of the San Diego board and ensure the proper operation of another 19 drains under control of the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board.

“As a steward of state lands, Caltrans has an important responsibility to protect and preserve the environment,” said Ken Nelson, the interim director of Caltrans operations in Orange County. “We want to solve the problem.”

The toll road, financed and built by a joint-powers authority based in Irvine, runs about 20 miles from Newport Beach to San Juan Capistrano, where it connects with the San Diego Freeway. The road passes through several major watersheds that drain into the ocean.

Under an agreement with the toll-road authority, Caltrans assumed responsibility for the road’s operation and maintenance in 1996. The costs are borne by taxpayers.

“We want a fix, not a Band-Aid,” said Wayne Baglin, the mayor pro tem of Laguna Beach who sits on the San Diego board. “They cannot continue to pollute. They have to do something.”

Water officials across the state have taken a hard look at the state transportation agency recently. In November, the Santa Ana board ordered Caltrans to stop runoff on Pacific Coast Highway from flowing into the fragile marine ecosystem at Crystal Cove State Park near Corona del Mar.

The San Diego board claims Caltrans failed to maintain 20 toll-road drains designed to filter pollutants from runoff. Since the road opened five years ago, sediment and debris has built up on the filters, rendering them useless.

The contaminants include lead from exhaust, copper dust from brakes and oil leaking from cars and trucks. In some cases, tests have indicated that water going into the drains comes out more tainted than when it went in.

The order requires Caltrans to begin fixing all runoff holding basins and filters along the toll road and submit a schedule for completing the repairs by Aug. 31. The agency must also start a maintenance and monthly inspection program immediately.

In addition, Caltrans has to set up a program to monitor water quality by Oct. 30 that determines runoff quality, the filters’ ability to remove contaminants and the likelihood that tainted water is polluting the ocean.

The order states that the runoff must be tested for 18 contaminants, including chromium, copper, lead and nickel. If the order is violated, Caltrans faces daily fines as much as $5,000.

Caltrans has claimed the drain systems are too costly to maintain--almost $1 million a year. But on Wednesday, Nelson said the agency has already begun inspecting the filters and removing sediment and vegetation. Caltrans has also signed an emergency contract to replace filter parts, he said.

An internal Caltrans study, obtained by The Times in April, stated that the filtering systems were thought to be suitable during the design and construction of the toll road, but have since been deemed obsolete.

The report concluded that the drains have not functioned properly since the road was built and were not appropriate for the project in the first place.

Authorities said the filters were installed horizontally, not vertically, which allows sediment and pollutants to build up on top, creating an impervious layer over the drain. The design was abandoned in 1998 because of the problem.

Officials of the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor Agency said the drains were installed after Caltrans recommended them and approved their installation.

“We gave Caltrans a state-of-the-art system and it has not been maintained,” said Walter D. Kreutzen, the TCA’s chief executive officer. “Had this been done, there probably wouldn’t be a problem.”

Contradicting Caltrans, TCA officials said the maintenance costs are about $139,000 a year based on the manufacturer’s estimate. However, Nelson said, the filters lack adequate capacity, meaning they might have to be replaced if they eventually don’t work.

The TCA is not a target of the board’s action, which irked a handful of environmentalists who testified at the hearing in San Diego.

“The TCA collects the tolls and now the taxpayers are picking up the tab for the maintenance problem,” said San Clemente resident Brittany McKee, a member of the Friends of the Foothills, an environmental group that opposed additional toll-road construction.

Jeff Purdy, also of San Clemente, said, “I’m amazed Caltrans has done nothing in five years. The board should stick it to Caltrans, and Caltrans should stick it to the TCA.”

Earlier in the meeting, board members heard other public testimony about potential filter problems along the Foothill toll road. Storm runoff for the 30-mile stretch, which, along with the Eastern toll road, connects the Riverside Freeway with Oso Parkway, is supposed to go through a system of roadside channels and swales, filled with soil and plants that act as a filter.

Michael Hazzard, director of the Southern California Watershed Alliance, told the board that on Tuesday he explored a swale system where the Foothill toll road crosses Trabuco Creek at Santa Margarita Parkway. He said the filter system appears to have been breached by erosion, including fissures as deep as 22 feet.

Hazzard also testified that water can flow directly off the highway and into the watershed without being filtered by a swale.

“The water is going directly into the creek unfiltered, threatening the habitat below the 241,” said Hazard, who is also a member of the Santa Ana Mountains Task Force.

Caltrans spokeswoman Beth Beeman said the agency is unaware of problems with runoff on the Foothill. Nelson said Caltrans will inspect highway drainage systems across the state, including the Foothill.