Creek cleanup could become priority

Paul Clinton

NEWPORT BEACH -- Local regulators would have to pay more attention to

cleaning up six creeks in the city if they are added to a federal watch

list, which could happen as early as next month.

The Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board is recommending the

inclusion of the creeks on the list, which is overseen by the

Environmental Protection Agency.

“In a more general sense, what it means is that these water bodies

will receive more regulatory attention in the future,” board spokesman

Kurt Berchtold said. “These water bodies would be flagged as potential

problem water bodies.”

The State Water Resources Control Board must agree to the inclusion of

the creeks on the list and submit them to the federal agency by April 30.

They would then be added to the federal Impaired Water Bodies 303d

List.

The inclusion of the creeks on the federal watch list has been lauded

by environmentalists and Newport Beach officials, but Newport Coast

homeowners have filed a protest.

The creeks include Buck Gully, Los Trancos, Muddy Creek, Pelican Point

Waterfall, Pelican Point Creek and Pelican Point Middle Creek.

Once added to the list, local regulators would need to formulate

standards for what substances could be present in the creeks.

These standards as known as “total maximum daily loads” and cap the

amount of a specified substance that can be present in the creeks.

Local regulators, at the request of Orange County CoastKeeper

Executive Director Garry Brown, recommended the creeks be included on the

list because they have had high levels of bacteria that are present in

urban runoff, which contains animal and human waste.

If the creeks are placed on the list, limits on the amount of coliform

bacteria would be put in place. The regional board has committed to

beginning the process of crafting those standards in 2008, Berchtold

said. The standard would be in place by 2011.

It’s a change that isn’t meeting with strong approval in the city’s

recently annexed community of Newport Coast.

Philip Bettencourt, the president of the Newport Coast Community

Assn., wrote a protest letter concerning the decision, saying homeowners

could be forced to pay to clean up the creeks if they are added to the

list.

Bettencourt said there is “no basis for the coastal creeks to be

placed on the list.”

Tests have shown heightened coliform levels in the creeks, which drain

into Crystal Cove.

Defend the Bay founder Bob Caustin, who said he supported the move,

was instrumental in the board’s decision to enforce standards for Upper

Newport Bay and Newport Harbor, which are also on the list.

Caustin bristled at Bettencourt’s letter.

“It’s self-serving,” Caustin said. “Is it OK for runoff from his yard

to run into his neighbor’s pool? . . . He’s trying to dodge

responsibility.”

FYI BOX

State regulators are moving to cement standards for coliform levels in

these impaired creeks by 2011.

CREEK/SIZE

* Buck Gully Creek/3.79 miles

* Los Trancos Creek/4.94 miles

* Muddy Creek/3.69 miles

* Pelican Hill Waterfall/1.06 miles

* Pelican Point Creek/0.8 miles

* Pelican Point Middle Creek/1.31 miles