Newport needs neighborly help

What else could Newport do to combat or prevent water pollution?

Well, the article about the city of Newport Beach being an active

watchdog leader of water quality is great, and they deserve it

(“Water-quality efforts equal best in the West,” Friday).

The big step to help Newport Beach’s water quality comes from our

neighbors and the County of Orange. San Diego Creek spews 9 million

to 13 million gallons of urban runoff a day from its 112-square-mile

watershed and tributaries. (They’re really flood-control channels.)

Irvine Ranch Water District’s Natural Treatment System project

will help if it works, along with the New Delhi flood control

channel, which belches 3 million gallons a day of its nasty urban

soup (it doesn’t come from Newport Bay) into the upper bay.

We’d like to learn more about the proposed $50 to $100 per

household urban runoff tax proposed by the Orange County Sanitation

District. Newport needs its watershed neighbors to be major

stakeholders in the fight for clean and safe waters. We need to fix

the county basin plan for drainage, so if a city or new development

adds water and sediments to our bay, they should have to contribute

specific dredging funds to get it out of the bay and help fund our

nutrient and sediment total maximum daily

loads.

It’s about the pollution in the water you don’t see that is

impairing our coastal ecosystem and posting health warnings in our

community recreational areas.

So, now that Newport’s house is in order, let’s get our neighbors

to also be major stakeholders of Newport’s most sought-after

resource, the beautiful bay, the fabulous beaches and magnificent

ocean.

Kudos to Newport’s council and the community for a proactive water

quality program.

* RANDY SETON is a resident of Balboa Island and program director

of Orange County CoastKeeper.