Waterways Must Be Protected

The hurdles to tampering with natural resources such as Upper Newport Bay are justifiably high. New procedures can produce ill effects that last years or decades.

Superior Court Judge Robert E. Thomas last month again put the brakes on a plan by the Irvine Ranch Water District to pump millions of gallons of waste water, even after it has been highly treated, into the bay.

The water district had won approval for the procedure from the regional water quality control board. But Thomas said the district’s contention that adding treated water would improve the bay’s quality was wrong.

An environmental group that formed to battle the plan, Defend the Bay, cheered the judge’s decision, Thomas’ second rejection of the proposal. Also applauding were the Newport Beach mayor, joggers and walkers along the edge of the quiet waters, and many who worried that the ecologically fragile estuary would be permanently harmed.

The concern for water quality also should be re-emphasized at the Capistrano Beach Water District, although in a very different situation. The Orange County district attorney’s office filed criminal charges last year, alleging that the district ordered its truck drivers to collect sewage sludge and dump it on the ground outside a treatment plant at Capistrano Beach. Last month, the district agreed to shut the plant and pay $75,000 in penalties and costs in exchange for having the charges dismissed. The plant is near San Juan Creek, which flows to Doheny State Beach, though prosecutors said they found no evidence that discharged waste entered the creek.

The chief plant operator pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of directing district employees to dump the sewage. Charges against the district were dropped, and it admitted no wrongdoing under the deal with prosecutors.

The environmental movement has existed long enough and sunk roots sufficiently deep that directors, executives and employees of water districts have to be cognizant of the harm that can be done if operations are not carried out properly. Orange County has endured too many sewer line breaks, discharges into waterways and beach closings in recent years. More care is needed to protect the resources that contribute so much to the quality of life.