Bad Water Blues : Residents With Reservoir View Rap Cover-Up

Gail Roy swore off tap water seven years ago, ever since she moved into her Costa Mesa home. At first, she said: “You could smell chlorine coming out of your tap.” Now, she says: “It looks real cloudy and smells funny like it has a lot of chemicals in it.”

But Fred and Kate Bottome, who use water from the same source, say they “‘don’t have any big deal about it.”

Roy’s home, near Westcliff Plaza, is miles from the scenic San Joaquin Reservoir in Newport Beach, source of the offensive water, while Fred and Kate Bottome’s new $400,000 home overlooks the reservoir.

The Bottomes, and at least 100 of their neighbors, value the water which spreads out in an irregular kidney shape below their homes in the Harbor Ridge area of Newport Beach. They figure that views of the water basin, wind-rippled by day, floodlit by night, are worth $200,000.

But in order to improve the water quality, water district officials want to cover the scenic basin in gray plastic--a proposal that has pitted public health against property values in a prestigious corner of Orange County.

The San Joaquin Reservoir, built 22 years ago in the hills above Newport Beach just outside its city limits, holds 3,050 feet of treated water derived from melted snow and imported from the north before it is distributed to half a million people from Huntington Beach to Laguna Niguel. It is the county’s largest coastal reservoir.

Open to the elements, it is subject to contamination from bird droppings, insect larvae and algae-associated bacteria, according to Michael McGuire, director of water quality for Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which operates the basin. In the past, midge fly larvae have shown up in coastal area tap water, and four years ago, officials had to remove almost a million African clawed frogs from the reservoir.

The contamination can be treated. The problem is that the chlorine used to disinfect the already-treated water causes potentially harmful byproducts of its own, notably THMs, (trihalomethanes), a suspected carcinogen in humans, authorities said.

(The federal Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 250 people would develop cancer by drinking two liters a day of water that contained 100 parts per billion of THM over 70 years.)

This year, higher doses of chlorine were added to the reservoir to treat lower-quality water produced by the drought, and THM levels rose significantly, according to Marshall Davis, MWD’s water quality lab manager. Levels in the last quarter were greater than the 100 parts per billion allowed by the state, he said.

“If they end up having another high quarter, they have to go to public notification,” announcing that the water does not meet state standards for drinking, he said. “They’re very close to not complying right now.”

State and federal water-quality guidelines are expected to be tightened even further within the next three years and San Joaquin Reservoir water will surely not comply then unless its quality can be improved, authorities said.

“We’ve been after them for several years,” said Chet Anderson, regional engineer for the public water supply arm of the state Department of Health Services. “It isn’t just the health effects that are of concern. There’s also the aesthetic effects--the taste and odor that result from the chlorine,” he said, adding:

“Water is supposed to be safe, wholesome and potable.”

Long-Term Problem

The danger is not imminent, but rather chronic and long-term, authorities said. Last week, MWD’s board approved $380,000 in preliminary engineering and environmental studies focusing on options for improving the water, including:

- Building a separate treatment plant.

- Changing the water flow.

- Abandoning the reservoir altogether.

- Installing a floating cover of gray rubber, which MWD officials see as the cheapest solution.

Homeowners have not taken a position on a solution that would avoid installation of the cover.

To district officials, the cover, that would cost up to $20 million, would stop bird droppings, frogs and algae growth fostered by sunlight, and reduce the need for chemicals.

To the Bottomes and their neighbors, it is a case of turning paradise into a lot of gray rubber.

When they bought their $400,000 townhouse last September, Fred Bottome said he didn’t even question the price. “It’s just what I wanted. I’m 63 and wanted to retire here.” Mornings, they drink coffee on the patio overhung by a pine tree. Evenings, Fred said, “I can sit and have a drink, calm down and be the husband that my wife thought she married.”

When they heard about the proposed cover last February, Kate Bottome said, “we were just sick about it. We saved and planned for this. It’s like having the rug pulled out from under you.”

“I don’t want it (the cover),” protested Marty Malcomb, who compares the view from her home to Lake Tahoe or Lake Arrowhead. “It’s a nice, beautiful, peaceful, serene place to be. But not if they put some nasty piece of plastic on it. You won’t find anyone who’s thrilled.” Bob Gomperz, a MWD spokesman, said the agency in February held community meetings for residents who overlook San Joaquin Reservoir. The presentations stressing health factors were similar to those held for homeowners near the Palos Verdes Reservoir, where a cover is now being installed, he said.

Counts Reduced

The Harbor Ridge homeowners were told that covers installed at the isolated Orange County reservoir in Brea and Garvey Reservoir in Monterey Park reduced THM counts by at least 40%, he said. But no homes overlook either reservoir.

Unlike homeowners near San Joaquin Reservoir, those in Palos Verdes offered little resistance, Gomperz said. “It’s a different breed of people, I think,” he suggested. “The people at the San Joaquin site are concerned with what will happen to their property values. They may not have as much equity built up as folks along Palos Verdes.”

As a concession to Harbor Ridge homeowners, he said that the MWD is also considering a floating, subsurface cover.

Homeowners are not oblivious to health factors associated with rising THM levels. “Obviously, we’re all concerned about that,” said Arlan Flaum, president of the Harbor Ridge Crest Homeowners Assn. But homeowners say they wish that the water district would appreciate their point of view in reaching a compromise.

Some say that home sales in the neighborhood have already been affected. Flaum said he explained the situation to one potential home buyer in his neighborhood, where townhouses sell for half a million dollars and custom homes go for millions. The buyer, attracted to the view, subsequently backed out of the sale, Flaum said.

Water district officials have “patted people like me on the head and thought they’ll get tired and go away,” Flaum said.

But Flaum and others say they have no plans to go away. There are mutterings of lawsuits.

From a public health standpoint, the homeowners’ position is “unfortunate,” said Mike Wehner, water quality program chief for the county Health Department. “What should be done to help ensure a safe and aesthetically pleasing water supply is to take steps to not have larvae in it and the precursor material that forms THMs. Those steps have been held up because of the concerns of those overlooking the reservoir.”

Anderson said it is unfair to blame the homeowners, since negotiations by those who own the reservoir have also held up progress.

What to do with the reservoir will ultimately be decided by a consortium of its owners: MWD, the Irvine Co., Irvine Ranch Water District, Mesa Consolidated Water Co., Laguna Beach County Water District, South Coast County Water District, and the cities of Huntington Beach and Newport Beach.

No one owns a majority share, and delays have resulted from the negotiations, Anderson said.

“Before anything can be done to the water quality, the ownership has to be resolved,” Gomperz said.

MWD is pushing for 50% ownership “so we have control over the water quality,” Gomperz noted. “After all, it is our water. If nothing else, our reputation is on the line.”

Negotiations--expected to conclude in the next few months--are at an “extremely sensitive” stage, he said, adding that the proposed cover is not part of the negotiations.

While covering the basin is the “preferred solution for the water industry,” he said a decision has not been reached over how to solve the water-quality problem.

Anderson said he hopes that some solution is achieved within two years. “Water agencies don’t want to cause unnecessary impacts.” But he said: “There are very little things in the world that don’t have some trade-offs.”