Two creeks are added to cleanup list

Paul Clinton

The Environmental Protection Agency added two local creeks to its

federal Impaired Water Bodies List.

In Newport Beach, a string of creeks made the list for the first

time, lending additional regulatory scrutiny to the area. Buck Gully

and Los Trancos creeks both made the list for the first time this

year.

Garry Brown, the executive director of Newport Beach-based Orange

County CoastKeeper, had led the charge to get the creeks listed.

“They concurred with the state’s recommendation, which was our

recommendation,” Brown said about the creeks. “We wanted to put some

of the creeks on the list so we can start cleaning them up.”

The EPA list, which has a total of 679 California waterways on it,

requires that more attention from local agencies be directed toward

their cleanup.

Congress created the list under section 303(d) of the Clean Water

Act of 1972, as a way of mandating cleanup of dirty streams, lakes,

watersheds and any other areas that are used for recreational

purposes.

Once listed, the waterways are subject to what are known as a

“total maximum daily loads,” the federal standards that limit the

amount of a harmful substance that can be present in the water or

sediment. Local agencies can face substantial fines if they don’t

adhere to the limits.

The discovery of a banned pesticide and Polychlorinated Biphenyls

in three Huntington Beach waterways led federal regulators to

spotlight them for cleanup. The EPA on Monday added Huntington

Harbour, Anaheim Bay and the Bolsa Chica Wetlands to the list.

“The city is already focusing so much of our attention on the

harbor and Bolsa Chica,” Huntington Beach Councilwoman Debbie Cook

said. “We need to elevate the public’s understanding of what we’re

dealing with.”

The EPA added the three Surf City waterways, overriding the State

Water Quality Control Board’s snubbing of them. In all, five new

water bodies across the state were added to the list on Monday.

“We identified five more water bodies that are polluted and need

to be on that list,” said David Smith, an EPA team leader. “We looked

at the data and concluded that there was enough evidence to merit the

listing. There was a disagreement.”

Smith said the three waterways, which are connected, show

unacceptable levels of copper, nickel, and PCBs, as well as a

substance known as dieldrin, a chlorinated pesticide that is illegal.

Dieldrin, which is similar to DDT, has been found in fish tissue

in the waterways, Smith said. PCBs, according to the EPA, are

industrial chemicals that are mixtures of organic chemicals that were

used for many industrial and commercial applications like electrical

equipment, paints, plastics and rubber products. More than

1.5-billion pounds of PCBs were produced in the U.S. before they were

banned in 1977.

The metals were found in Bolsa Chica, while the PCBs and dieldrin

were found in Anaheim Bay and Huntington Harbour.