North Star Beach closed

June Casagrande

NEWPORT BEACH -- On a day that City Council members planned to study

ways to stop sewage spills, 1,000 gallons of raw sewage closed North Star

Beach.

And, unlike the majority of the spills that have made Newport Beach

No. 1 in the county for beach closures, this spill came from a city

sewage line.

The underground pipe in the golf course of Big Canyon Country Club was

damaged by tree roots, leading to the report of sewage at the Back Bay

beach at 7 a.m. Tuesday. The waters there will be closed to swimmers for

at least 72 hours and until health agency tests show the water is safe

for swimming.

“Sometimes just a single tree root can cause this to happen,” said

Monica Mazur of the Orange County Health Care Agency’s Environmental

Health Division. “Once they get through and find the source of water,

they grow like crazy.”

Mazur said that many different trees can cause such damage, but that

ficus trees are especially prone to the problem because of the fast,

invasive way their roots grow.

The spill occurred on the same day that City Council members sat down

to study ways to stop sewage spills. In 2001, Newport Beach had 18 beach

closures due to sewage overflows -- making Newport Beach the biggest

contributor to the county’s 51 closures last year.

Only four of those spills were caused by city sewer lines, however.

The remaining 14 were either from private sewer lines that connect to

city lines, Orange County Sanitation District lines or neighboring

cities’ lines.

Nonetheless, officials are considering whether and how the city can

ameliorate the problem.

They will spend $3,131,932 to maintain its sewers for the 2001-02

fiscal year. Officials are considering strategies such as working more

closely with property owners in the city to help avert spills and

increasing maintenance expenditures for sewer lines citywide.

* June Casagrande covers Newport Beach. She may be reached at (949)

574-4232 or by e-mail at o7 june.casagrande@latimes.comf7 .