Plan to Pump Polluted Water Out Approved

Hoping to rid Aliso Beach of a pool of contaminated water that tends to attract young children, the City Council has agreed to let the county launch a project that will divert the polluted water and pipe it into the ocean.

The Environmental Management Agency’s bid for a coastal development permit had been denied by the city’s Design Review Board but the council overturned that decision with a 4-1 vote Tuesday night. Councilman Steve Dicterow cast the dissenting vote.

County and city officials have long wrestled with ways to clean the water in polluted Aliso Creek, which holds urban runoff from inland cities and ultimately dumps into the ocean at Aliso Beach, a county-owned beach in South Laguna.

Before the water flows to the ocean, it tends to pool, attracting youngsters despite posted warnings that the water is contaminated.

Most Laguna Beach residents who spoke at the meeting opposed the project, which one compared to taking a “Band-Aid” approach to a problem that requires a long-term solution. Some residents believe the polluted water should be treated before it is released into the ocean.

But Councilman Wayne J. Baglin said Wednesday that the permit approval is an important step in dealing with the pollution problem.

“This is a key factor in getting polluted water off the beach in Aliso where children are playing,” he said. “It is a major health risk.”

The project involves constructing a temporary sand berm in Aliso Creek about 300 feet upstream from Coast Highway. The berm will be lined with plastic and will create a shallow pool from which the polluted water can be pumped through a pipeline to an outfall line that will dump it 1 1/2 miles offshore.

The project is a joint effort by the county and by the Aliso Water Management Agency, which treats waste water from six cities and water districts within the Aliso Creek watershed area.

The water management agency still must obtain permission from the Regional Water Quality Control Board to divert the flow into the outfall line. Agency officials will meet this morning with board representatives at Aliso Creek to explain the project.

The goal is to keep the polluted water off Aliso Beach during the busy summer months. The permit applies only to the 1997 summer season and the berm will be dismantled in October. But the permit can be renewed for up to five years.

The Army Corps of Engineers has been studying the creek’s pollution problem and is expected to eventually propose long-term solutions.