Pollution study of Back Bay planned

Paul Clinton

NEWPORT BEACH -- The Orange County Sanitation District has launched a

major study that could help pinpoint whether bacteria reaches the beach

during a sewage spill in Upper Newport Bay.

“It’s going to look at, if there’s a spill in the watershed, how the

bacteria reaches the beach,” district spokeswoman Lisa Lawson said.

Many sewage spills that occur in the bay cause bacteria to flow into

the Santa Ana River and down to the beach off the Newport Slough. The

bacteria is contained in waste water and often causes a beach posting or

closure as a result of a spill.

The study, still in a preliminary planning stage, came about as a

result of a spill in La Habra on June 9, 2000. The waterfront in Seal

Beach was closed for three days as a precaution even though no bacteria

from the spill reached the beach.

The Orange County Health Care Agency imposed the beach lock-down.

The sanitation district was fined $107,500 by the Santa Ana Regional

Water Quality Control Board for the spill. Of that money, $82,500 will go

toward paying for the study. The remaining $25,000 was used on cleanup.

The Southern California Coastal Water Research Project, an umbrella

agency that includes the sanitation district as a member, has been given

control of handling the study.

The project will contribute some matching funds for the study, said

agency executive director Steve Weisberg.

“It’s pretty ill-defined,” Weisberg said about the state of the work.

“The generic goal is to better understand how flow from tributaries [of

the Talbert Watershed] transport once they get into [Upper] Newport Bay.”

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