County, Cities Ordered to Do Broad Testing of Aliso Creek

Bacteria-laden runoff from six cities may be fouling Aliso Creek, state water authorities said, prompting them to order local officials to do extensive testing.

The staff of the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board first blamed runoff from Laguna Niguel and unincorporated Orange County for extremely high levels of pollution in one section of the creek, which drains more than 34 square miles between the Santa Ana Mountains and the Pacific Ocean in Laguna Beach.

Last week, the agency ordered every city from which runoff flows into the creek to evaluate whether it might be contributing to the creek’s longtime contamination problems.

The county, its flood control district, Laguna Beach, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Woods, Lake Forest and Mission Viejo are covered by the March 2 order.

The regional board’s action demonstrates to southern Orange County that “we’re taking a far more aggressive position in storm-water control than we have in the past,” said board Chairman Wayne Baglin, who is also a Laguna Beach councilman. “What’s taking place here is definitely the first volley.”

Activists applauded the recent action--focusing on all potential pollution sources instead of singling out random ones--as progressive and positive.

“This is a regional watershed approach,” said Roger von Butow, chairman of the Clean Water Now! Coalition, an environmental group based in Laguna Beach. “To tell you the truth, I am absolutely floored. I hope this is the beginning to the end of pollution in southern Orange County watersheds.”

Pollution has plagued Aliso Creek for years, resulting in regularly posted warnings to ocean swimmers about health risks. Urban runoff--pet waste, motor oil and other pollutants washed from streets and lawns into storm drains and waterways--is also considered a perpetual problem.

Water board staff members say they are taking a “watershed approach” to pollution in the creek by ordering testing of 54 major direct inputs, such as storm drains, and seven natural tributaries that send urban runoff into the creek.

“It’s an impaired water body with high bacteria levels,” said Bob Morris, a senior engineer with the regional board, which has jurisdiction over South County. “We’ve asked the cities to conduct investigations to determine whether the source of bacteria is coming from them.”

The order says the six cities and the county have failed to improve the creek’s condition, and it lays out a timetable for testing and reports. An initial report due April 30 requires mapping of the major runoff entry points, a brief summary of all investigations to date and causes of pollution, and technical and economic feasibility of solutions.

Quarterly reports will require extensive weekly testing data, a description of efforts to find pollution sources, evaluations of structural repairs, identification of measures that would stop bacteria-laden runoff from entering the creek, and updated timelines and work plans.

The county or any of the cities can appeal the order to the regional board. Failure to comply could lead to fines of $1,000 a day.

Tim Casey, Laguna Niguel’s city manager, said of the order, “This tends to formalize what we had already intended to do as good environmental stewards. I still believe that, left to our own devices, all the things we’re now being compelled to do would have been done.”

Indeed, some of the bacteria data on which the regional board relied came from a $150,000 study that the county and the six cities conducted voluntarily to learn more about pollution in the creek. The study was funded by a $113,000 state grant and local matching funds.

“It appears that the regional board is using its diligence in following what its mandate is, and they’re concerned--obviously like we are--about protection of recreational waters,” said Chris Crompton, county environmental resources manager. “It’s consistent with lots of the things we’ve already been doing. We’re heading down the same pathway.”

Laguna Niguel and Orange County are already under a cleanup and abatement order related to Aliso Creek issued by the regional board in late 1999. That order focused on a storm channel that drains Kite Hill and seven other neighborhoods. Fecal bacteria counts near that channel are especially high, once having reached 225 times the allowable health standard. Runoff from the channel enters Sulfur Creek, then Aliso Creek.