Order Goes Out to Clean Up Aliso Creek

A state water board has issued a cleanup and abatement order against Laguna Niguel, Orange County and the county’s Flood Control District for allowing high levels of urban runoff into Aliso Creek, one of Orange County’s most polluted waterways.

The three may be fined up to $5,000 a day and face lawsuits if they fail to follow the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board’s order, which activists had been urging for six months.

“I think it’s high time that somebody did something. I am very, very encouraged,” said Roger von Butow, chairman of the Clean Water Now! Coalition and the Clean Aliso Creek Assn. “Some of these bureaucrats need a mandate from the people. That’s part of what we’ve done. The squeaky wheel has won.”

Aliso Creek drains more than 34 square miles of Orange County, from the Santa Ana Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. Along the way, bacteria, trash and chemicals are flushed from lawns and streets into storm drains and then into streams--and eventually the ocean. The federal Clean Water Act bars any discharge that fouls waterways. The county and the Army Corps of Engineers are working on two costly studies of the sources of pollution in Aliso Creek.

The cleanup order, dated last Tuesday, focuses on a channel near the Kite Hill neighborhood in Laguna Niguel that sends 130,000 gallons of urban runoff a day into the creek, according to a city official. Activists say it actually spews 600,000 to 1 million gallons per day. In October 1998, fecal coliform bacteria levels there were 225 times the amount considered safe for swimming.

The regional water board, which has jurisdiction over part of Orange County, found that the city, county and Flood Control District allow illegal discharge that severely impairs water quality. The order directs them to create a plan to clean up the discharge near that storm drain channel and submit the plan to the board by Feb. 11.

It also requires weekly bacteria monitoring and quarterly progress reports, said Wayne Baglin, chairman of the regional water board. Baglin has agreed to abstain from all votes related to Aliso Creek because he has become an activist in the pollution issue.

If the three do not follow the order, they could be fined $500 to $5,000 per day.

Ken Montgomery, director of Laguna Niguel’s Public Works Department, said the city is already taking most of the actions mandated by the order.

“It’s not a problem. It’s not a significant factor. It just formalizes things a little bit,” he said. “We fully intend to comply with the order.”

Chris Crompton, manager of environmental resources for Orange County, declined to comment since he had not seen the order as of Saturday afternoon. Herb Nakasone, the county’s flood programs manager and the third person named on the order, could not be reached for comment.