Editorial

When it comes to Irvine Ranch Water District [IRWD] officials, we’ve

taken our fair share of potshots.

The shots came especially fast and furious about five years ago, when

we learned that IRWD leaders had plans to pump millions of gallons of

treated sewage water into the Back Bay.

Their pitch then was that the water would be used to refresh the duck

pond marshes on the edge of the bay. But Newport Beach city leaders and

environmentalists, most notably Defend the Bay founder Bob Caustin,

complained that the bay and harbor were no place for treated sewage

And they rightly pointed out that IRWD officials may have had a bigger

motive, namely to save $20 million by not having to find other places to

get rid of the treated sewage water.

After a couple years of lawsuits and salvos, IRWD lost the battle, and

its name has since been tarnished by the sludgy, sewage debacle.

So it’s understandable that some locals would be skeptical of a recent

bill by new Assemblyman John Campbell that would give the water district

control of the urban runoff that floods into San Diego Creek, which in

turn feeds into the Back Bay.

IRWD officials hope to apply the models used in the San Joaquin Marsh

as ways to reduce the nitrate levels and sediment buildup that has long

created havoc for the Back Bay’s ecological well being.

Immediately some have surmised the IRWD shouldn’t have that much power

and should stay out of the eco-business altogether.

Maybe that’s true, but we’re not sure we all have the information to

make that decision just yet.

After all, the San Diego Creek does wind through the water district’s

property, so officials there clearly have a stake in its well being.

If this plan does indeed have merits and would serve the greater good

of preserving the Back Bay, isn’t it worth exploring, no matter who is

pitching the plan?

If Campbell and IRWD officials have a good plan to clear up the runoff

problems in the Back Bay, we all want and need to hear it.

Likewise, environmentalists and other local IRWD antagonists need to

give the district a fair hearing, before the bigger goal of protecting

the Back Bay gets lost in political or legal battles.