News of the Arroyo
Title: | Federal Legislation to Fund Three IRWD Projects Designed to Clean Urban Runoff and Increase Water Su |
Subtitle: | |
Date: | 2003-04-09 |
Summary: | April 9, 2003 -- The Irvine Ranch Water District has developed an innovative approach to treating runoff and is seeking federal legislation to back the project. |
Author: | News Release Contact: Beth Beeman |
Publication: | Irvine Ranch Water District |
Content: | The Irvine Ranch Water District (IRWD) is pleased to announce the introduction of legislation by U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California) and Congressman Chrisopher Cox (R-California) that authorizes funding for three important projects aimed at improving water quality and increasing water supply in Orange County. Bills S. 649 and H.R. 1598 will amend the Reclamation Wastewater and Groundwater Study and Facilities Act to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to provide up to $19 million in funds, or 25 percent of the total costs of constructing the three projects. The three IRWD projects benefiting from this legislation are the Natural Treatment System, the Irvine Desalter Project and the Orange County Regional Brine Line. The Natural Treatment System (NTS) project will use man-made wetlands to remove sediment, nutrients, pathogens and other contaminants from dry weather runoff in the San Diego Creek Watershed and improve water quality in Upper Newport Bay. The project is expected to be the largest watershed-wide urban retrofit project for runoff treatment in the nation. Plants such as bulrush and cattails and the beneficial bacteria within the wetlands soils provide natural cleanup of pollutants that would otherwise flow to the Bay and the ocean. The natural “technology” used for this project has been used successfully at the San Joaquin Marsh in Irvine and also at the Playa Vista Wetlands in Los Angeles County. “During the last year and a half IRWD has held briefing meetings on three separate occasions with members of the environmental community to provide status and project updates on the Natural Treatment System,” said Jack Keating of the Upper Newport Bay Friends and Naturalists. “As someone who is concerned with water quality in Upper Newport Bay, I appreciate IRWD’s efforts to develop a system whose goal is to improve water quality in the Bay. I hope that this collaborative effort will continue and ultimately the community and Bay will all benefit.” The Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) and the Master Plan for the NTS project are now completed and out for public comment. The public comment period will run through Monday, May 12 at 5pm. The DEIR and Master Plan are available online at http://www.naturaltreatmentsystem.org . “Irvine Ranch Water District is thankful to Senator Feinstein and Congressman Cox for their leadership in helping secure funding for these cutting edge projects,” said IRWD Board President Brian Brady. “We believe that the NTS project will become a national model for the treatment of urban runoff.” The Irvine Desalter Project is really two projects in one. The first component will focus on removing chemicals from the groundwater basin emanating from the former El Toro Marine Base and be used only for irrigation and other non-drinking water uses. The second component will treat water outside of the base pollution area to remove salts caused by the natural geology and past agricultural drainage. This water will be treated to drinking water standards and will provide a new source of local water for IRWD customers. This new supply of drinking water will cost no more than buying imported water, but will be much more reliable because it is a local supply. The purpose of the Orange County Regional Brine Line Project is to reduce salinity in both drinking water and recycled water by constructing a pipeline that will be used to dispose brine directly into the ocean rather than in existing sewer lines. Keeping salt out of sewer lines is important to water agencies like IRWD that use reclaimed water for landscape irrigation since salt is not removed during the reclamation process. IRWD serves a population of 266,000 in the city if Irvine, Newport Coast and portions of Tustin, Costa Mesa, Lake Forest, Newport Beach and Orange. #### |
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