Caltrans fight cleanup order

Paul Clinton

CRYSTAL COVE -- State transportation officials are fighting efforts by

the regional water board to clean up urban runoff into the state park.

With the deadline to file a plan to reduce storm-water runoff from

Coast Highway quickly approaching, Caltrans continues to resist a Nov. 16

cleanup order more than three months after filing an appeal.

The two other parties named in the order, California State Parks and

the Irvine Co., already have taken steps to reduce discharges into

Crystal Cove State Park.

The California Department of Transportation has kept up the fight as

it waits for the California Water Resources Control Board to set a

hearing on the issue.

“We have filed a challenge, but we are continuing to work with the

board toward a resolution,” Caltrans spokeswoman Beth Beeman said. “At

the same time, we continue to work toward our plans as required by the

cease-and-desist order.”

The regional water board gave the three parties two years to

significantly reduce waste-water discharges into the cove, one of the

state’s 35 Areas of Special Biological Significance.

In the appeal, filed in December, Caltrans argues that storm water

flowing off Coast Highway shouldn’t be considered waste under state law.

As of yet, Caltrans hasn’t convinced regional water monitors to agree

with that position. Officials at the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality

Control Board, who issued the cleanup order, said the appeal has no legal

basis.

“We feel that it has no merit,” said Michael Adackapara, the board’s

storm-water division chief. “As far as we are concerned, the law is very

clear.

As a part of the cleanup order, the board gave the three parties until

May 16 to submit cleanup plans. Earlier this month, the Irvine Co. said

it would build an elaborate network of retention ponds and drainage

pathways at the developer’s 635-home project on the bluffs about the

cove.

State Parks officials have also said they would submit their water

plan in time. The aging septic tanks under the 46 historic cottages in

Crystal Cove State Park are suspected of leaking sewage into the cove.

Initially, parks officials said they needed to evict the cottage

dwellers to evaluate each structure. But those plans were pushed back

until July 8, after the residents sued and negotiated a settlement.