Sewage threatens state protected Crystal Cove waters

Paul Clinton

City leaders and environmentalists in neighboring Newport Beach say

they are worried that the plume of partially treated waste water released

off Huntington Beach has headed south and could endanger the state

protected waters off Crystal Cove State Park.

Every day, the Orange County Sanitation District releases 240-million

gallons of partially treated sewage into the ocean off Huntington Beach

via an underwater outfall pipe.

Citing a 2001 study that examined the movements of the waste water,

environmentalist Jack Skinner said he was concerned the plume had drifted

dangerously close to waters designated by the state as areas of special

biological significance.

State law, in 1976, marked 34 segments of coastline as areas of

significance. By law, the areas must continue to remain pollution free.

“The fact that the plume headed south near Crystal Cove would indicate

to me that it was getting extremely close to this protected area,”

Skinner said. “It is important to keep waste water out of that area.”

The sanitation district commissioned the Jones--Burnett Plume Tracking

study, which was published in December, to map the partially treated

waste water.

The study showed the plume as close as 3 1/2 miles from Crystal Cove

and 100 feet from the shore, said Robert Ghirelli, the district’s

director of technical services.

No data is available for the area between that infected 3 1/2 mile

mark and Crystal Cove, Ghirelli said.

“We know the plume moved down coast,” Ghirelli said. “If you make the

assumption that the plume is moving south, it would remain 100 feet

offshore.”

The study also showed that the plume heads up Newport Canyon, a deep

trench at the bottom of the sea heading toward the shore, and reached as

close as 1/2 mile from the shore.