Tough water standards postponed

June Casagrande and Paul Clinton

NEWPORT BEACH -- City officials anxious about strict new water-quality

rules were left in limbo Wednesday by a regional board’s decision to

postpone a vote on the matter.

The Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Board on Wednesday postponed a

vote on a permit that allows Orange County cities to operate their storm

drains. The delay gives representatives of the 34 cities more time to

consider last-minute changes to the 90-page document.

The board plans to take up the matter at a special hearing Jan. 18,

board spokesman Kurt Berchtold said. The board also set Jan. 8 as a

deadline to submit public comments on the 49 proposed changes.

“There were a number of last-minute changes,” Berchtold said. “The

board decided people didn’t have enough chance to review these changes.”

Newport Beach has been a strong supporter of strict new rules designed

to keep debris out of storm drains that run into the ocean. But at the

same time, local officials have said the rules will be tough for everyone

to comply with.

“I think it’s the only way to get a cleaner bay and a cleaner ocean,”

Assistant City Manager Dave Kiff said. “We all talk about cleaning the

bay and reducing postings and closures, but a good education program only

gets us so far. There’s got to be the teeth in the laws to really get us

there.”

Everyone agrees that the proposed rules have teeth. The rules are, in

effect, conditions of a permit the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Board

issues to the county to operate storm drains. The previous five-year

permit expired in March. Board members will revisit the issue at their

next meeting. Once approved, the new permit, which contains seriously

stepped-up rules for keeping water clean, will go into effect

immediately.

“It’s very controversial,” said Berchtold, who explained that coastal

cities tend to support stronger regulations while those further inland

say they are concerned with costs. “Newport Beach has been very

supportive. A letter we received from Newport Beach in October was

probably the most supportive one we got.”

In an attempt to accommodate cities’ concerns, Berchtold said the

board has made numerous revisions to the 90-page document. Most notably,

he said, they relaxed proposed inspection rules that would have required

Newport Beach to hire three full-time inspectors for construction sites.

Also, wording in the permit was changed that will allow measures such as

catch basins in storm drains to help cities comply with the rules.

Businesses would bear more of the brunt of keeping water clean than

individuals, according to the permit. Residents, for example, would still

be allowed to wash their cars with soap and water.

“Though I hope they don’t,” Kiff said.

But if individual behaviors add up to a collective problem, the law

could step in to control things such as washing cars or watering lawns,

which both can send pet waste into the storm drains.

Worried that the permit could take its biggest toll on small business

owners, City Councilwoman Norma Glover has suggested the city step in to

help pay for things such as sidewalk washing. Under the new permit,

businesses would be prohibited from hosing down their sidewalks unless

they take measures to keep the pollutants out of the ocean.