O.C. Gets Strict Rules on Runoff

State water regulators approved stringent new runoff rules for south Orange County on Wednesday, despite objections from local officials who fear the restrictions could cost the county and local cities an additional $15million a year and still fall short of improving water quality.

“We need to be strong. We need to mandate. It’s time for change,” said Janet Keller, a member of the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board, shortly before the unanimous vote in the Mission Viejo City Council chamber.

The south Orange County restrictions are intended to decrease the amount of pollutants flowing into local waterways and the ocean. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has identified urban runoff--water that washes car oil, pet waste and other contaminants off streets and lawns into storm drains, creeks and eventually the ocean--as the No. 1 cause of coastal pollution.

The rules are contained in a new five-year runoff permit required by the federal Clean Water Act.

“This permit’s a challenge,” said Chris Crompton, Orange County’s environmental manager, after the hearing. “It’s got a tremendous amount of detail and a tremendous amount of requirements which will be a significant challenge to implement.”

Key provisions of the rules, which apply to 11 cities, unincorporated county land and the county flood-control district in southern Orange County, include:

* Requiring most developments and major redevelopment projects to include devices that slow and cleanse runoff from the first rainfall, which is typically the dirtiest because it picks up contaminants that have accumulated on streets for weeks or months.

* Prohibiting polluted runoff from flowing out of storm drains to waterways. The runoff would need to be either filtered in the drains or diverted.

* Inspecting construction, industrial, commercial and municipal sites for possible contamination.

* Educating residents, city workers and others about the effects of urban runoff.

County and city officials have said they are already spending nearly $7 million this fiscal year to comply with storm-water regulations in the southern part of the county, and they expect the new requirements to add at least $15million to that cost.

The affected cities are Aliso Viejo, Dana Point, Laguna Beach, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Woods, Lake Forest, Mission Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita, San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano.

Laguna Woods City Manager Leslie A. Keane said the city may have to spend more than $600,000 to meet the new rules--the same amount the city spends on police protection.

She said the city will fund this mandate by cutting social services, transportation and recreation--a disappointment in a city where the average age is 78.

“Those are really critical services for seniors,” Keane said.

Environmentalists, who have disputed the cost figures projected by the county and cities, were pleased with the new rules, which they say mirror the tough standards recently enacted for Los Angeles, San Diego and Ventura counties.

“It’s another brick in the wall,” said David Beckman, a senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Los Angeles office. “The thing that’s most important is that the board saw through the cities’ smoke screen so clearly. They deserve credit for sticking to their principles.”

It’s unclear whether local government officials will appeal the rules, though one board member said during the hearing that she expects an appeal or litigation.

Similar permits elsewhere have repeatedly been challenged. In Los Angeles County, more than 40 cities appealed to the regional board’s parent, the State Water Resources Control Board. Appeals at the state level were exhausted for a San Diego County permit, so it is now in the courts.