$30-Million Piece of the Federal Pie

Two critical Orange County public works projects and a slew of smaller ones were awarded nearly $30 million this week by Congress and now await President Bush’s signature.

Receiving the most money -- $21.85 million -- is a decades-long project to avert flooding along the Santa Ana River. The $1.3-billion project is about 75% complete, said Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach), whose bills provided the additional money.

A total of $2.5 million was approved for the Orange County Groundwater Replenishment Project. Sponsored by the Orange County Water District, the project will boost groundwater supplies for 23 cities and water agencies in northern and central Orange County. Half of the county’s current supply is from groundwater, with the rest purchased from the Colorado River and the state water project.

The Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve would get $1 million for a restoration effort that would also protect more than 75 species of fish and nearly 200 species of birds. It is one of the largest, and among the last, of Southern California’s natural wetlands.

Just down the coast, Cox won support for $900,000 to guarantee uninterrupted power at two coastal sewage pump stations in the event of emergencies. And an additional $800,000 was authorized for the Orange County Sanitation District to pay for full secondary treatment of wastewater as it enters the ocean.

Other projects receiving funding included $400,000 to expand the emergency department at UCI Medical Center in Orange and an additional $400,000 for an after-school program for troubled youths in low-income areas. Cox has helped the project collect more than $1 million over the last four years.

Among other funded projects championed by Cox: $265,000 to improve water quality in an environmentally sensitive area stretching from Aliso & Wood Canyons Wilderness Park to Aliso Viejo; $250,000 to integrate police information through a program administered by the Newport Beach Police Department; and $150,000 each for a regional firefighter training center in Irvine, a project to study drinking water by the Municipal Water District of Orange County and an expansion of the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art in Santa Ana.

The 30,000-square-foot Bowers extension will include a gallery with changing exhibits, an Asian gallery, a large shop and a 350-seat auditorium, said Vickie Byrd, the museum’s executive vice president.

“We’ll be able to bring in more exhibits from different countries and be a bigger cultural center for all of Southern California,” Byrd said.

The federal money may help fund architectural or contract costs for the $18-million project, Byrd said.

“This gift shows the federal government sees the importance of what we do,” she said, “especially as far as providing access to different cultures.”

Other projects approved for funding were $86,000 to study environmental damage to San Diego Creek, which flows into Upper Newport Bay, and $50,000 for a similar study for San Juan Creek.