Good, clean news from the Dunes

Ask any Newporter what the biggest threat facing the city is, and

you’ll probably get several answers.

Many will say John Wayne Airport expansion, many others will say

traffic, and many, many more will say the water quality of the local

beaches and bays that are such an integral part of Newport’s charm

and lifeblood.

To that end, we are heartened to hear of reports that show the

water quality in and around the Dunes resort on the Upper Newport Bay

has improved over the last few years.

The Dunes, which has been sold by the longtime owners the Evans

and Quinn families, is a longtime Newport institution. A summertime

destination for many local families, it offers the only campgrounds

in the city of Newport Beach.

But it has also had its share of problems with water quality.

County health officials have revealed tests that show the Back Bay

waters that lap against the shores of the Dunes resort aren’t the

most inviting for swimmers and contain bacteria and pollutants from

estuary wildlife, runoff and other urban sources.

The pattern of water circulation has also posed a problem, health

officials contend. So bad was the water quality that it made the list

of the Heal the Bay’s worst Southern California beaches report in

2001.

Now, however, use of tidal circulation, and efforts by

environmentalists to clamp down on urban runoff and big polluters

upstream along the watershed basin, have contributed to marked

improvements in water quality, and the Dunes is no longer on that

notorious list. The resort is experiencing much fewer beach postings

for hazardous water in fewer areas, according to recent surveys.

City officials also took other measures to improve water quality,

closing off a storm drain that emptied in the water near the Dunes,

diverting the runoff into sewer pipes instead of beaches.

City officials should be commended for working hard to address the

water quality issues, and so should local residents, who have made it

clear that this is a matter of priority.

We couldn’t agree more.