Millions Are Needed to Fix Faulty Road Drains

Caltrans estimates that it will cost at least $13.3 million to repair or replace 38 storm drain filters along the San Joaquin Hills tollway that the agency admits are faulty and should never have been installed.

The hefty price tag is about 15 times what it cost to put in the existing filters, which the agency acknowledged earlier this year were not working.

The California Department of Transportation, which estimates an annual cost of $1 million to maintain the faulty filters, faces stiff fines if it does not comply with a state cleanup order. The department said it is trying to resolve the situation as quickly as possible.

Since the 20-mile highway from Newport Beach to San Juan Capistrano opened in 1996, sediment and debris have collected on the filters, rendering them useless and sending polluted runoff onto the surrounding land.

Contaminants include lead from vehicle exhaust, copper dust from brakes, and oil leaking from cars and trucks. In some cases, tests have shown that water has come out of the drains more tainted than when it went in.

The ambitious proposal presented to state water regulators seeks to fix three filters before the start of the rainy season next month, and replace or retrofit the remaining 35 drains with seven types of treatment systems by 2004.

“This timeline is an aggressive yet realistic goal,” Caltrans said in a report.

The plan marks another development in the long history of the tollway, which was built despite fierce opposition from environmentalists and many residents. The San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board must give final approval. Agency officials said Friday that they had just begun to investigate whether the plan will work.

Horizontal Filters Allow Sediment to Accumulate

“That’s the big question,” said Christopher Means, an environmental specialist overseeing the project for the water board. “Until I look into these things a little bit more, I’m not going to be able to say whether we’re signing off one way or another. We have a lot more work to do to dissect this thing.”

In July, the water board ordered Caltrans to draw up a schedule to fix the drains along the tollway, which passes through several major watersheds that drain into the ocean.

Although the tollway was financed and built by a joint-powers authority based in Irvine, Caltrans agreed to assume responsibility for the road’s operation and maintenance when it opened. But in an internal report earlier this year, Caltrans said the drains have never functioned properly and have not been maintained because it would be too costly. That report said the filtering systems were thought to be suitable during the design and construction of the tollway.

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

The agency proposes to fix the problems in three stages.

In the first phase, filters at Oso Creek, Aliso Creek and Laguna Canyon, parts of which have already been replaced, would be fully repaired at a cost of about $120,000 and ready for monitoring in time for the rainy season.

In the second phase, expected to cost $8.2 million and be finished by spring 2003, 19 of the filters would be replaced with new technology, ranging from chemical applications to catch basins to skimmers, depending mostly on the topography of the sites.

The final phase, during which the 16 remaining filters would be replaced, is expected to cost about $5 million and take until spring 2004 because of a variety of constraints. For one thing, right-of-way issues need to be resolved. And Caltrans estimates that it may need more than 400 permits to address archeological and environmental concerns.

Caltrans spokeswoman Rose Melgoza said all seven types of treatment systems have proven track records along highways in Los Angeles and San Diego counties.

Means disagreed, but he reserved judgment on any of the proposed resolutions until he had a chance to thoroughly review all of them. He estimated that it would take at least a month to respond.

Water board officials characterized the plan as an important first step and praised Caltrans for taking aggressive action to tackle the situation, pointing out how the agency is already following other directives, such as initiating a maintenance and monthly inspection program.

Caltrans Faces Oct. 30 Deadline

“With all the constraints they have to go through, they seem to be moving at a fairly aggressive pace,” Means said. “They’re not shirking their responsibility.”

The agency faces an Oct. 30 deadline to institute a monitoring program that will determine 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 of up to $5,000.