O.C. Supervisor Seeks Water Cleanup Funds

Orange County Supervisor Chris Norby wants the county and 23 local cities to use redevelopment funds to help pay the increasing cost of cleaning polluted storm runoff.

Norby said each of the cities, as well as the county itself, could use the money to help cover the cost of complying with federal clean-water mandates. Such a move could require approval from the state Legislature.

Other options for paying the bill include asking voters to raise taxes or imposing new water or sewer fees.

Officials across Orange County are increasingly nervous about the surging cost of treating urban runoff before it fouls creeks, rivers and beaches. Each city and the county must guarantee federal regulators that water entering storm drains is free of bacteria and contamination, or face stiff fines.

The cost of meeting government clean-water requirements has swelled from $45 million in 2002 to $77 million last year, according to the Orange County Watershed and Coastal Resources Division.

Most of the money, including funds for street-sweeping and monitoring, comes from cities’ general funds. The county’s $6.7-million water-quality budget, for instance, diverts $4.1 million from flood-control funds, $1.6 million from the Harbors, Beaches and Parks Department, and $1 million from roads.

Pressure is mounting to find more money. By 2007, cities and the county must renew their federal permits to discharge pollutants into the ocean.

The permits are issued by regional water-quality control boards in Santa Ana and San Diego. New permits are sure to include more stringent cleanup requirements.

“We’re all looking at our general funds and saying, ‘We’re having enough trouble funding what we’re doing now,’ ” said Dave Kiff, Newport Beach assistant city manager and a member of a countywide water-quality task force. “We’re spending money on things like inspections, enforcement and education. None of us are spending a lot of money on hard fixes that may solve the problem.”

County officials are also considering tapping the county’s half-cent transportation sales tax to help pay for water cleanup projects, or seeking voter approval for bond measures, as has been done elsewhere.

In November, Los Angeles voters approved a $500-million bond to fund a variety of runoff pollution-control projects. San Clemente, which operates Orange County’s only municipal sewage system, persuaded voters in 2002 to adopt a similar fee -- $5 a month for homes -- for runoff treatment.

In recent weeks, Norby floated his idea as an alternative to raising taxes or fees to cover water-cleanup costs.

Norby wants state lawmakers to allow the county to use a portion of property taxes now sent to the county’s 24 redevelopment agencies. Of those agencies, 23 are governed by city councils; the county’s redevelopment agency is overseen by the Board of Supervisors.

Before raising taxes or fees, Norby said, local government officials should consider better uses for existing funds. Water-quality needs are far more pressing than sending property taxes to bank accounts controlled by redevelopment agencies, he said.

“Redevelopment money is public money, and it should go to serve the public,” said Norby, a longtime foe of diverting tax money to redevelop.

“We need to free up money for water quality, and I think that’s a better use of the money than using it as tax incentives for Wal-Marts or Costcos or auto dealers.”

The need for more money to address water-cleanup issues is not disputed.

The Watershed and Coastal Resources Division says dozens of capital projects are needed to comply with federal standards. They include building treatment plants for urban runoff, installing pump stations and pipes to divert water into existing sewage treatment plants, building artificial wetlands and installing storm-drain inlet screens.

Continuing costs include money for water-quality monitoring, analysis equipment, street-sweeping and public information programs to warn residents not to over-water lawns or wash cars, or put pesticides, soap, road grime and pet waste into drains.

Last year, the Orange County Sanitation District suggested imposing a countywide user fee to pay for a $25-million project to divert urban runoff from north and central county into its sewage treatment plant.

A dozen pumps installed in storm drains in Huntington Beach, Newport Beach and Costa Mesa already divert about 2 million gallons a day into the district’s Fountain Valley plant, which treats about 240 million gallons of sewage each day.

In recent months, local officials have urged a countywide approach. The sanitation district, for example, covers just the area north of the Costa Mesa Freeway. The Irvine Ranch Water District covers Irvine and portions of Newport Beach, Tustin, Costa Mesa, Orange and Lake Forest.

The balance of the county is served by the South Orange County Wastewater Authority, a coalition of small sewage agencies.

The water-quality task force also has recommended combining the county’s 13 watersheds into three management areas, giving each area the authority to consider what pollution controls work best for them.

Water quality is a huge concern, particularly to coastal cities that rely on beach tourism. Orange County spent more than $25 million in the last five years trying to solve the mystery of bacteria spikes along the coast that closed much of Huntington Beach in the summer of 1999, resulting in the loss of millions of dollars in tourism revenue.

Recurrent bacteria surges also have triggered nearly continuous beach closures in parts of Newport Bay and Dana Point. Scientists now believe urban runoff is the main culprit, carrying bacteria that settles into sediments and grows. Beach bacteria levels tend to spike during high tidal surges as the bacteria is flushed out of pipes and drains.