Neutral on permit criteria

Asked to either support or oppose the new waste water permit requirements proposed by the Regional Water Quality Control Board, San Diego, the City Council did neither.

The council voted unanimously June 2 to send a letter signed by the mayor that included a complimentary paragraph written by the city’s Environmental Committee on the board’s efforts to reduce urban runoff and improve water quality, along with suggested amendments and a statement of concern about the costs of enforcing runoff prohibitions, but with no outright endorsement or rejection of the proposed permit, known as MS4.

“If we help create this law and one person violates it, the city will get fined,” Mayor Pro Tem Elizabeth Pearson said. ”That will be very expensive, let alone [the expense] of trying to monitor it.”

Laguna Beach was not among the cities that signed off on a letter from the county to the board outlining objections to specific measures, such as the strict prohibition on irrigation run-off; requirements inconsistent with existing or draft MS4 permits, including those of neighboring Santa Ana and Los Angeles boards the bureaucratic burden of additional planning requirements; arbitrary establishment of increased municipal responsibility; and development standards dictated by storm water volume.

“The county’s Dear John letter comes down to one thing: two boards,” said Elisabeth Brown, president of Laguna Greenbelt Inc.

She has dealt with both the Santa Ana board, which opposes the proposed permit, and the San Diego board trying to get rid of dirt dumped in Laguna Canyon.

“One pile was in the Santa Ana District and they didn’t even reply to phone calls,” Brown said. “Go with San Diego. They are not perfect, but nobody is.”

Brown was among the city environmentalists who spoke to the council in support of the provisions of the permit, led by Councilwoman Verna Rollinger, who stated her position before the public comment period.

“I and about a dozen Laguna residents have been attending the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board meetings and workshops on the MS4 permit,” Rollinger said. “We must support it. We need the inland cities to take water quality as seriously as we do.

“The destruction that has occurred in Aliso Creek is a direct result of water runoff and pollutants from urbanized areas.”