Board to mull new pump station

Alicia Robinson

Orange County Sanitation District officials will discuss a proposal

tonight to purchase four parcels of land on the north side of West

Coast Highway and build a pump station to replace the Rocky Point

pump station.

The new facility would cost about $9.4 million and would begin a

17-month construction schedule in August 2005, Engineering Manager

Jim Herberg said.

The existing pump station at 1575 W. Coast Highway, built in 1938,

pumps wastewater from Newport Beach to a treatment plant in

Huntington Beach. A 1999 study showed the station is not adequate to

handle projected water flows and it now uses all three of its pumps

instead of keeping one pump in reserve for peak flows, Herberg said.

“It meets the need to pump the water, and we haven’t spilled any

water,” Herberg said. “We just want that extra assurance that nothing

is going to go wrong.”

The district hopes to purchase four adjacent parcels on West Coast

Highway owned by International Bay Clubs Inc., which leases the land

to H & S Yacht Sales, Dan Marty Designs and other tenants. District

officials said they have spoken to the property owners and anticipate

no problems in acquiring the land.

The Rocky Point station can handle 5 million gallons per day with

all three pumps running. By 2020, flows are projected to reach 5.84

million gallons a day. The proposed station would have a capacity of

23.6 million gallons per day and would also accommodate 17.7 million

gallons per day of flow from the Bay Bridge pump station.

The district plans to reconfigure its Newport Beach pump stations

to allow additional capacity as backup for repairs and emergencies.

The facility would include an underground pump room and an

aboveground electrical building.

Herberg said he doesn’t anticipate any objections to the project

because it is needed for wastewater treatment and one already exists

nearby.

The main effect on the public would be traffic delays on West

Coast Highway related to construction.

Before proceeding, the sanitation district will prepare an

environmental report on the project that will consider several

alternatives for project sites and the effect of not constructing a

new station. The report is expected to be ready in late December.

The meeting will be from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in the Newport Beach City

Council chambers, 3300 Newport Blvd. For more information, visit

https://www.ocsd.com.