A Watershed Event Ahead for Runoff?

Clasping his hands behind his head, Don McIntyre, the county’s new watershed expert, leaned back in his office chair, his mind searching for an answer to one of the region’s most difficult problems.

For too long, he said, Orange County’s 13 watersheds have been controlled by more than 35 city and county agencies, each forming a veritable barrier to effective water-quality management.

As the local water guru, McIntyre believes that one of his main tasks in the months ahead is to smooth relations among all the regulators and tackle water-quality issues on a regional basis.

“These 13 watersheds take up a vast amount of land with no real legal jurisdiction tying any one watershed [to another],” he said.

McIntyre, who was the city manager of Pasadena for 17 years, recently assumed the watershed responsibilities of Larry Paul, the county’s coastal manager who retired late last year. McIntyre, 71, will work part time until a permanent replacement is hired.

He served as president of the Central City Assn., a Los Angeles business group, and then as executive director of the Orange County Sanitation District for five years. He began consultant work on water-quality issues for the county last year after a six-month stint as interim city manager for Seal Beach. In February, his $50,000 contract was increased to $100,000 and his assignment was broadened to include watershed management. He has been dealing with divergent views and approaches ever since.

South County is slightly ahead of the curve because of early efforts to improve such chronically polluted tributaries as Aliso Creek in Laguna Beach and San Juan Creek in Dana Point. Both areas have been targeted for improvement with the help of the Army Corps of Engineers.

Now, the county is turning to the north, where comparatively little work on water-quality management has been done.

McIntyre and local officials have scheduled an April 18 meeting with public works departments from Los Angeles County and cities that share Coyote Creek, the polluted San Gabriel River and their tributaries. They hope to have frank discussions about mutual environmental problems. The meeting, which is the first attempt at a regional approach for northern Orange County, coincides with tougher new state rules for controlling storm runoff, which pollutes streams, rivers and coastal waters.

Cities in northern and central Orange County estimate that the cost of compliance could be as much as $14 million, although environmentalists say that figure is grossly inflated.

To the south, in Laguna Woods, compliance might cost as much as $630,000, “about the same as what we pay for police services,” said City Manager Leslie A. Keane.

Laguna Woods, with a population of 16,500, is conforming to some of the new runoff requirements such as catch-basin filters for new parking structures and improved street sweeping. The city is also studying grease traps for restaurants.

Noting that the annual budget for the general fund is $4.3 million, Keane said that improving water quality in Laguna Woods is “a major dollars-and-cents issue.” But Orange County’s costs pale in comparison to Los Angeles County’s, where it might cost as much as $54 billion over the next 10 years to install the required controls for storm water, said Signal Hill City Manager Ken Farfsing.

Signal Hill is a member of the Coalition for Practical Regulation, which includes Los Angeles County and 42 cities, including Artesia and Cerritos along the Orange County line. The group contends that the new runoff rules could slow development and cost jobs. But, Farfsing said, the coalition supports a regional approach and looks forward to starting talks on water quality. “When it rains, the rain doesn’t stop at the city limits,” he said.

At the upcoming meeting, officials hope to discuss storm-water controls, how to pay for them, what studies are necessary, and their relationship with the Army engineers.

McIntyre said he is confident that the public is willing to pay more to protect the environment. He cited a recent poll in San Clemente in which 80% of the respondents said runoff and water quality are their top concerns.

“The public will support quality-of-life issues,” said Chris Evans, director of the San Clemente-based Surfrider Foundation. “But the county needs a 25-year plan. There needs to be a shift of the paradigm. We have to stop looking at the ocean as a resource and also as a dumping ground. We need a new ocean ethic.”

With the financial costs for new runoff regulations on people’s minds, McIntyre said he is aware that making headway on a consensus for watershed projects may be slow going: “We will be asking cities and the two counties to fund their share of these studies, and I imagine they will not be too happy with that.”

But paying for water controls is only part of the problem, he said. There are no agencies that control whole watersheds and no models to go on. Aliso Creek’s 34-mile course, for example, sweeps through seven cities before it reaches the Pacific in Laguna Beach.

McIntyre said he has spent years thinking about the management difficulties of regulating such a watercourse. Perhaps, he said, there should be a watershed authority, a joint-powers agency--something like the Orange County Transportation Authority--or separate agencies for each of the 13 watersheds.

“We’re talking about very important economic and political issues,” McIntyre said. “The county is taking its first baby steps toward regional watershed management.”