Bay Warrants Better Protection

They have been dredging junk and muck out of Upper Newport Bay, even as a regional water board deliberates on plans to dump treated waste water there. This important coastal wetland has shown that it can take a pounding, but surely all who enjoy it and all who oversee it must do better at protecting it.

For those running and walking along its shores, for those who glide along its surface in kayaks and canoes, and for those who glimpse its sunsets along Jamboree Road, the bay is a daily reminder of nature’s ebb and flow, and processes of renewal. Recently, its long-term health has been in the spotlight. We are witnessing how vulnerable the coastline is, and how it is under assault from carelessly discarded waste. It is crucial that this precious resource be protected.

In recent months, huge scows have moved in as part of a $5.4-million effort to clear silt and sediment that threatens wildlife. The dredging is needed periodically, but the county recognized the importance of getting the work done before more silt and trash accumulated. It wisely came up with state funding to get the work started, but has yet to obtain the remaining $3.4 million.

Silt and sediment are not all that has been retrieved. Refrigerators, shopping carts, thousands of bottles and more have come up. This demonstrates a need for public education about where trash bins and dumps are located. The last bay-dredging was needed in 1987. Protecting this body of water is expensive and requires regular attention, given the onslaught of runoff from the San Diego Creek, the Santa Ana-Delhi Channel and storm channels.

There is also the Regional Water Quality Board’s current evaluation of the plan to allow the Irvine Ranch Water District to discharge millions of gallons of treated waste water into Upper Newport Bay. Last month, Superior Court Judge Robert Thomas indicated that the board must take a good look at the project’s effect on water quality.

There are conflicting assessments from environmentalists and Irvine Ranch representatives about whether the treated water would harm plants, animals and humans. As the board assesses testimony it has heard, it ought to keep in mind the larger story of the bay. The pressure is already on to keep it alive and well.