In April 1999, the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board adopted an amendment to the Water Quality Control Plan for the Santa Ana River Basin (Basin Plan) to establish a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for fecal coliform in Newport Bay. The fecal coliform TMDL establishes a long-term, prioritized, phased approach to meeting recreational contact (REC-1) and shellfish harvesting (SHEL) water quality standards in Newport Bay. In response to the Water Code Section 13267 letter from the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board, the County of Orange and the Cities of Costa Mesa, Irvine, Lake Forest, Newport Beach, Orange, Santa Ana and Tustin (watershed cities), Irvine Ranch Water District (IRWD) and the Irvine Company are currently supporting studies and monitoring in the Bay that are expected to result in the development of a TMDL implementation plan.

Previous monitoring and study efforts have included the development and implementation of a routine monitoring program and water quality model for bacterial indicators, a REC-1 beneficial use assessment, health risk assessment and evaluation of the Vessel Waste Program, and source identification and characterization of the Dunes Resort and agricultural runoff sources. Continuing these efforts, the County of Orange is conducting an assessment of the shellfish harvesting beneficial use of Newport Bay.

The County of Orange and the watershed cities have implemented a routine monitoring program to determine compliance with bacterial quality objectives in the Bay. At a minimum, routine monitoring includes the collection of five samples per 30-day period at a total of 35 stations throughout Newport Bay. The results of this monitoring are analyzed each year and are presented to the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board in an Annual Data Report. These reports can be found below.

Fecal Coliform TMDL Documents

Annual Reports

Special Studies

The following report is large in size at 67 MB. The report is available in its entirety and also broken up into sections for easier downloading

Shellfish Harvesting Assessment Report, August 2004 - Chapter 1, 4 MB
Shellfish Harvesting Assessment Report, August 2004 - Chapter 2, 9 MB
Shellfish Harvesting Assessment Report, August 2004 - Chapters 3-4, 6 MB
Shellfish Harvesting Assessment Report, August 2004 - Chapter 5-7, 3 MB
Shellfish Harvesting Assessment Report, August 2004 - Appendix A-C, 3 MB
Shellfish Harvesting Assessment Report, August 2004 - Appendix D.1, 13 MB
Shellfish Harvesting Assessment Report, August 2004 - Appendix D.2, 10 MB
Shellfish Harvesting Assessment Report, August 2004 - Appendix A2, 10 MB
Shellfish Harvesting Assessment Report, August 2004 - Appendix B2.1, 11 MB
Shellfish Harvesting Assessment Report, August 2004 - Appendix B2.2, 5 MB
Shellfish Harvesting Assessment Report, August 2004 - Appendix B2.3, 8 MB
Shellfish Harvesting Assessment Report, August 2004 - Appendix A3-C3, 12 MB