10 Waterways Proposed for ‘Impaired’ List

State water officials propose placing three popular stretches of beach, Dana Point Harbor, Aliso Creek and other Orange County waterways on the federal list of polluted bodies of water.

Should the federal government put all 10 of those proposed in Orange County on the “impaired” list, regional water officials must create detailed plans to limit the pollutants flowing into the waterways--a costly, controversial process that typically takes years.

Environmentalists say these technical plans are a strong, scientific way to cleanse the water.

“If done correctly, they should be 100% effective,” said Heather Hoecherl, a staff attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Los Angeles office.

The limits would restrict all kinds of pollution--from fertilizer to heavy metals--from all sources. Once the limit is established, water officials allocate how much of each pollutant can come from different sources.

Proposed sites in Orange County include stretches of Huntington State Beach, Newport Beach and Seal Beach.

Already 509 water bodies in California have been declared impaired, and must have standards in place by 2012.

The State Water Resources Control Board has proposed adding 195 creeks, lakes, and stretches of ocean to the list, and removing 70, including Upper and Lower Newport bays.

Removal from the list means only that plans to limit pollution have been completed.

Also proposed to be added to the list are 48 bodies of water in Los Angeles and Ventura counties, including Castlerock Beach in Santa Monica, a stretch of Rincon Beach, and Avalon Beach on Santa Catalina Island.

Some of the first plans in the nation to limit pollution were created for Newport Bay, covering everything from fecal matter to silt. Parts of the bay have been off-limits for swimming and shellfish harvesting for nearly three decades.

“Absent that plan ... I don’t think some of the [improvements] would have been done,” said Dave Kiff, assistant city manager.

He added that he thinks the city will meet the plans’ goals of making the entire bay swimmable during dry weather by 2014 and swimmable year-round by 2021.

However, Kiff said he is concerned that the state has proposed adding 1,000 feet of Newport Beach’s shoreline south of the Santa Ana River mouth to the list, saying he believes bacteria problems at the spot represent an aberration. The city has not decided whether to contest the proposal.

Laguna Beach Mayor Wayne Baglin, a former regional water quality board member, is among the critics of the limits. He says crafting the plans for polluted places in San Diego County consumed as much as 15% of the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board’s budget but showed few results.

“The process is very long and very costly and the state pays the money and the water bodies continue to be polluted while they go through bureaucratic study,” he said.

Conventional enforcement action, such as fining polluters, is far more effective, Baglin said.

State water officials will take public comments at three meetings before the state board votes on its proposal in September, submits it to the Environmental Protection Agency by Oct. 1.

Federal officials will take several months to analyze the proposal, and will take public comments, before making a decision.

The meeting for Southern California counties is at 9 a.m. May 30 at the Doubletree Hotel, 222 N. Vineyard Ave., Ontario.