Work to check flooding begins

Alicia Robinson

Work began Wednesday to mark which trees and vegetation will be

removed as part of an emergency project to restore floodwater

capacity to San Diego Creek.

Because a 2.5-mile portion of the creek has become overgrown and

full of sediment, it can now handle only a 10-year flood rather than

the 100-year flood for which it was designed.

The county Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to declare an

emergency and begin the $3.3-million project immediately, in an

effort to alleviate the risk of flooding that could wash sewage into

the Upper Newport Bay from a nearby Irvine Ranch Water District

treatment plant. The county said that as much as 4 million gallons of

raw sewage per day could get into the bay if flooding in the creek

made pumps at the Michelson Water Reclamation Plant inoperable.

Environmentalists said earlier that they don’t think the problem

warrants emergency status, and not everyone was satisfied with

Tuesday’s decision to proceed.

On Wednesday, county workers started to identify where vegetation

can be trimmed while still leaving an appropriate habitat for animals

that travel along the creek. As a response to environmentalists’

concerns, a biologist has been hired to assist with that work, said

Kenneth R. Smith, director of public works in the county Public

Facilities and Resources Department.

Smith expected vegetation removal to begin next week.

While environmentalists said they understood the need to restore

flood capacity to the creek, they still question the need to do the

work on an emergency basis.

The problem arose because county flood control officials haven’t

properly maintained the area, said Garry Brown, executive director of

Orange County Coastkeeper.

“I still don’t like the whole concept of them declaring an

emergency, and I think, quite frankly, if somebody challenged them on

it they would have a tough time defending it,” he said.

Brown said the county did satisfy his requests, including agreeing

to create a plan for future maintenance of the creek so such a

problem doesn’t recur.

Bob Caustin, founder of Defend the Bay, was disappointed by the

outcome of the supervisors’ meeting.

“I think they just went ahead and followed their staff’s

recommendation instead of listening to us,” he said. “This isn’t what

the emergency provision is supposed to be for.”

Caustin wanted the county to form a task force, including

environmentalists, to look at the chain of events that led to the

creek problem and whether it is truly an emergency.

Supervisor Tom Wilson said the county plans to work with

environmental groups to answer their concerns on the San Diego Creek

project, but a task force would just add another layer of

bureaucracy.

While the maintenance of the creek did slip through the cracks, it

has to be dealt with now, he said.

“I’m not going to start pointing fingers or placing blame, but it

wasn’t very well handled over the last couple of years in terms of

maintenance,” he said. “I’d rather take the action today in

collaboration with the environmentalists, in collaboration with IRWD,

and get this thing done.”