Newport poised for pollution fight
June Casagrande
City leaders are continuing the push to keep potentially poisonous
levels of the element selenium out of local waters.
The Coastal/Bay Water Quality Citizens Advisory Committee last
week heard a presentation on the agent and the hazards it poses to
the local environment.
“What we can do is continue to stress to the regional water
quality board that if this water is pumped into the San Diego Creek,
it will damage the habitat of the bay, and they should consider other
places to pump it -- like into a sewer line rather than the storm
water system,” Assistant City Manager Dave Kiff said.
From time to time, regional transportation authorities ask the
water board for permission to pump out certain low-lying areas in
their jurisdiction. Among these is an area near the Tustin Air Base
formerly known as the Swamp of the Frogs. Experts have found unsafe
levels of selenium in the groundwater that accumulates there.
Selenium is a naturally occurring element that, in small
quantities, is an essential nutrient for fish, birds, animals and
humans. In larger amounts, however, it is toxic.
Newport Beach officials have an ongoing policy of lobbying the
water board to forbid pumping the water into the storm drain system,
which eventually ends up in the ocean and harbor. And that’s an
effort they plan to keep up.
“We have serious concerns about what selenium can do to the local
habitat if this water is pumped into the flood control channel,
letting large enough quantities to get into the environment,” Kiff
said.
All the latest on Orange County from Orange County.
Get our free TimesOC newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot.