The Newport Bay watershed is considered
to be a priority watershed management area by the Santa Ana
Regional Water Quality Control Board. The watershed is located
in the County of Orange, and encompasses a drainage area of
approximately 154 square miles including all or portions of
the cities of Tustin, Newport Beach, Irvine, Lake Forest, Santa
Ana, Costa Mesa, Orange, Laguna Hills, and Laguna Woods. The
watershed ’s primary tributary is San Diego Creek, which comprises
approximately 117 square miles of the total drainage area.
The Bay
itself is divided into two distinct areas. The Lower Bay,where
the majority of commerce and recreational boating takes place,
parallels the coastline and is separated from the ocean by
Balboa Peninsula. The Upper Bay, beginning at the Pacific
Coast Highway bridge and extending five miles inland, is an
estuary the majority of which was established as an ecological
reserve in 1975.
Beneficial
uses for Upper Newport Bay include contact and non-contact
recreation, commercial and recreational fishing, biological
habitat of special significance, wildlife habitat, marine
habitat, shellfish harvesting, estuarine habitat, areas supportive
of rare species and shellfish, and aquatic habitat necessary
for the reproduction and development of fish and wildlife.
Beneficial uses for San Diego Creek include contact and non-contact
recreation, warm freshwater habitat, wildlife habitat, and,
intermittently, groundwater recharge. The Santa Ana Regional
Water Quality Control Board (SARWQCB) has identified four
categories of water quality problems in the Bay and its watershed
- sedimentation, bacteriological contamination (in the Bay
only), eutrophication, and toxic contamination – and it is
listed on the 303((d)list for these problems. Total Maximum
Daily Load (TMDL) allocations have been, or are being, developed
as a result of these listings.
In May
of 1996, the County of Orange and the Transportation Corridor
Agencies (TCA) submitted a joint proposal to the State Water
Resources Control Board (SWRCB) to receive water quality planning
funding available under Section 205 (j) (2) of the Clean Water
Act. The proposal was selected for funding, and in late 1997
the SWRCB provided funds (through Agreement No.7-037-250-0)
to the County of Orange and the TCA to conduct water quality
planning studies. The major objectives of the studies were
to:1) review existing water quality information, 2) conduct
an aquatic life toxicity assessment of tributaries to Newport
Bay, 3) support the formation of a watershed management structure,and
4) create and maintain a central repository of watershed information.
The Evaluation
Monitoring Program (EMP) final report is discussed in Section
2 and included in full in Appendix A . The EMP report presents
in detail the results from objectives 1 and 2 above - the
review of existing water quality information and the aquatic
life toxicity assessment. The information review revealed
several water quality problems or actual listed impairments
in Upper Newport Bay. These include:1) excessive bioaccumulation
of hazardous chemicals in aquatic life tissue, 2) excessive
fertilization resulting in algal growth, 3) excessive siltation
causing impairment to boating and aquatic plant communities,
4) excessive litter, 5) sanitary quality impairment causing
increased risk of disease to those who work and contact recreate
in the Bay,and 6) toxicity in San Diego Creek stormwater runoff
as it enters Newport Bay.
The aquatic
life toxicity assessment revealed that San Diego Creek stormwater
runoff is toxic to Ceriodaphnia
and mysids (Americamysis
bahia), but is not toxic
to fathead minnow larvae or algae. Causes of the toxicity
were found to be organophosphate (OP) pesticides (diazinon
and chlorpyrifos) and other unknown constituents.
Objective
3, the formation of a watershed management structure, was
accomplished by revising the underpinning cooperative agreement
to broaden the role of the pre-existing Newport Bay Sediment
Control Executive Committee to include a wider range of watershed
issues and more stakeholders. The newly constituted Newport
Bay Watershed Executive Committee also expanded its membership
to include the SARWQCB, the Irvine Ranch Water District (IRWD),
the Orange County Flood Control District (OCFCD), and the
City of Lake Forest. This is in addition to its preexisting
members: the Cities of Newport Beach, Irvine, and Tustin;
the County of Orange; The Irvine Company; and the Department
of Fish and Game. The Executive Committee also expanded the
membership of its principal advisory body, the Newport Watershed
Management Committee, to include the United States Environmental
Protection Agency (USEPA), the California Coastal Conservancy,
the Corps of Engineers (COE), and an environmental community
representative with standing in both Bay and watershed issues.
The function
of the Committees remains to provide environmental enhancement
to improve water quality in Newport Bay and its tributaries.
This is accomplished by forging voluntary solutions among
Committee members to problems as they are documented, and
pursuing opportunities and projects when they are presented.
The Committees conduct meetings regularly, the minutes of
which are presented in Appendix B.
Other materials related to the formation of the new watershed
management structure are discussed in Section 3
and presented in Appendices C and D.
These include a Public Participation Plan which lays out the
basis for, and structure of, public participation in the 205
(j) process, a summary report documenting the results of the
“Symposium and Public Meeting on the State of Newport Bay
and its Watershed ”held on October 24,1997 at the Beckman
Center in Irvine, and various materials from the “Public Meeting
for the Presentation of the Findings of Toxicity Studies Conducted
in the Newport Bay Watershed” held on December 1,1999.
The final
objective was to create and maintain a central repository
of watershed information. As a result, a collation of reports
in the areas of planning, biology,water quality and hydrology
was completed. Section 3.3
discusses the information repository in greater detail. A
summary of significant findings and a listing of the documents
are also included in Appendix E.
Upon completion, approximately 250 documents were transferred
to the information repository, which was designated as the
UCI University Library Government Publications Section.
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Upper
Newport Bay / San Diego Creek Watershed Planning Initiative
Ecosystem
Restoration Feasiblity Study 