EDITORIAL

By now, we hope, those Huntington Beach residents with a true passion

for protecting our waters and environment have turned in their comments

about proposed changes to the permit regulating what can be washed into

the city’s storm drains.

The permit, which the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board

is scheduled to discuss and vote on Jan. 18, will set the rules for what

can be sent into storm drains throughout north and cental Orange County

for the next five years. Among the regulations being proposed are ones

that would subject businesses to inspection, put tougher requirements on

new developments and increase protections along newly paved roads to

limit the amount of waste runoff that rolls from their surfaces.

Given Huntington Beach’s troubled history and its reliance on clean

beaches for tourist dollars and locals’ happiness alike, city officials

and residents should have their fingers crossed that the toughest

possible restrictions be made law. And while there are worries -- chiefly

from businesses and inland cities -- about the cost of additional

regulations, those additional dollars should be weighed against what

dirty water costs us all, both in straightforward dollars lost and in the

risk to our health.

It is crucial that our city leaders make this point clear to members

of the water quality board and to officials from inland cities. But they

should not have to be the lone voice in this debate. The water quality

board’s meeting is set for 9 a.m. at the Santa Ana City Council chambers,

20 Civic Center Plaza.

All those who have written to the board, and more importantly those

who missed the deadline but care deeply about the environment, should

make it a point to be there.