Aliso Water Management Agency

Keith Bacon, a laboratory technician with the Aliso Water Management Agency in Laguna Niguel, was recently named Technician of the Year. Bacon, a seven-year employee of the agency, was recognized for his efforts to help upgrade the agency's computer and software systems and improve water quality.

Aliso Beach reopened Tuesday afternoon after a three-day closure caused by a 1,500-gallon spill of partially treated waste water from a nearby treatment plant. Results of the county's bacteria tests on Sunday and Monday fell well within the state guidelines for bacteria levels, according to Monica Mazur, a spokeswoman for the Orange County Health Care Agency. "They looked really good," Mazur said.

Sewage Plan Tabled: A request by the Aliso Water Management Agency for permission to reduce the amount of treatment given sewage before it is discharged into the ocean has been shelved indefinitely, according to the California Regional Water Quality Control Board in San Diego. Aliso Manager Bill Sukenik asked the board to postpone action on the request to give Aliso time to answer questions from the public.

Keith Bacon, a laboratory technician with the Aliso Water Management Agency in Laguna Niguel, was recently named Technician of the Year. Bacon, a seven-year employee of the agency, was recognized for his efforts to help upgrade the agency's computer and software systems and improve water quality.

Aliso Beach reopened Tuesday afternoon after a three-day closure caused by a 1,500-gallon spill of partially treated waste water from a nearby treatment plant. Results of the county's bacteria tests on Sunday and Monday fell well within the state guidelines for bacteria levels, according to Monica Mazur, a spokeswoman for the Orange County Health Care Agency. "They looked really good," Mazur said.

The general manager of four South County water agencies has resigned, effective in six months, after being accused of mismanagement and inappropriate behavior by a fellow agency official, according to several water board members. William P.

The repair of a ruptured pipe that is dumping treated sewage near the shoreline is taking longer than anticipated and could keep Aliso Beach closed until at least Monday. The pipe apparently fractured during a storm in February and has since been dumping thousands of gallons of treated sewage into the ocean daily. Water officials had hoped to have the pipe repaired by late last week, allowing the beach to reopen shortly thereafter.

I would like to compliment The Times for its editorial ("Getting to the Source of the Problem," July 31), which called attention to the need for action to improve the water in Aliso Creek. Your help with this effort is much appreciated. I would like to clarify that all five members of the Laguna Beach City Council have asked for public hearings before the Aliso Water Management Agency. Three of the five council members actually attended the meeting of that board, but the council was unanimous in its endorsement of action to correct the problems that have led to sewer spills, which have polluted the creek and the ocean at Aliso Beach.

A half-mile stretch of Aliso Beach closed by a sewer spill two months ago reopened Monday morning after tests showed that the waters are safe for swimmers, an Orange County Health Care Agency official said. "We have reopened the beach as of 9:30 this morning," said Steven Wong, assistant director of environmental health for the county. "The test results are all below the safety level. They're way below the safety standards."

With as much as 250,000 gallons of treated sewage gushing into the ocean daily from a ruptured pipeline near Aliso Beach, crews will begin a repair effort Friday morning that could keep the shoreline closed for several weeks.

You easily can win a bet that the swallows will come back to Capistrano in March. Unfortunately, it's nearly as simple to win a wager that the upcoming rainy season will, at some point, force the closing of Aliso Beach because of pollution. A coordinated effort may get underway next summer to spare the beach the urban runoff that periodically forces health officials to close it to the public.

For many years the Laguna Beach chapter of the Surfrider Foundation (an international, nonprofit, environmental organization with 30 domestic grass-roots chapters dedicated to the preservation and enhancement of the world's oceans, waves and beaches) has been trying to urge the powers that be to find a solution to the pollution and consequential health risks caused by the Aliso Creek runoff onto Aliso Beach. However, the water-testing data indicating high bacterial counts, testimony of those who have become sick after surfing or swimming near the creek mouth or complaints from the surrounding homeowners of the stench of the tainted runoff have not prompted the city of Laguna Beach, Aliso Water Management Agency or the others responsible to solve this persistent health hazard.

A proposal to build a small dam and pump polluted Aliso Creek water out to sea was approved tentatively on Thursday. The city's design review board voted 3 to 2 to allow the Aliso Water Management Agency and the county to build a berm and collect water 300 feet upstream of Pacific Coast Highway, near Aliso Beach. The water would be pumped into an underground pipe and sent 2 1/2 miles out to sea, at a depth of 200 feet.

A government proposal to solve Aliso Creek's pollution problems by piping chemical-laden creek water 2 1/2 miles out at sea has come under fire from environmentalist and homeowners' groups. "We're calling it a 'contamination diversion' project because that's what it is," said Mike Beanan, vice president for the South Laguna Civic Assn. "Their plan is to pump it into the outfall [pipe], letting it go in the ocean and not treating it at all."

The general manager of four South County water agencies has resigned, effective in six months, after being accused of mismanagement and inappropriate behavior by a fellow agency official, according to several water board members. William P.

I would like to compliment The Times for its editorial ("Getting to the Source of the Problem," July 31), which called attention to the need for action to improve the water in Aliso Creek. Your help with this effort is much appreciated. I would like to clarify that all five members of the Laguna Beach City Council have asked for public hearings before the Aliso Water Management Agency. Three of the five council members actually attended the meeting of that board, but the council was unanimous in its endorsement of action to correct the problems that have led to sewer spills, which have polluted the creek and the ocean at Aliso Beach.

A government proposal to solve Aliso Creek's pollution problems by piping chemical-laden creek water 2 1/2 miles out at sea has come under fire from environmentalist and homeowners' groups. "We're calling it a 'contamination diversion' project because that's what it is," said Mike Beanan, vice president for the South Laguna Civic Assn. "Their plan is to pump it into the outfall [pipe], letting it go in the ocean and not treating it at all."

Aliso Beach remained closed indefinitely while workers for the Aliso Water Management Agency renewed efforts today to repair a leaky sewer outfall pipe near the Aliso Pier. The leak, about 100 feet from shore in about 10 feet of water, is discharging about 100,000 gallons of treated sewage each day, said Lisa Hogan, assistant general manager of the agency, an affiliation of seven water and sewer districts.

Fed up with frequent sewage spills going into Aliso Creek and then polluting the ocean, three Laguna Beach City Council members have called for public hearings before a regional water board to find a solution. "My concern is with the ocean water quality," Councilman Wayne L. Peterson said. "I do not think the agency in charge is being run in a pro-active manner for environmental concerns, and that's a strange statement coming from me, a businessman."

The blunt warning is fixed on a weathered wooden sign at the edge of Aliso Creek: "Stagnant Water No Swimming." About 100 yards downstream, where a brownish-green pond has formed near a beach playground, another posted admonition carries an even more ominous message: "Aliso Creek Waters Are Contaminated." Yet the signs do little to keep small children from sloshing through the waterway as it winds across the beach to the ocean.