Pesticide ban may help clean Newport Bay

Alex Coolman

NEWPORT BEACH -- A new federal ban on a common home and garden pesticide

could be the solution to some of Newport Bay’s contamination concerns,

city officials said.

The Environmental Protection Agency announced last week that the

over-the-counter sale of the pesticide chlorpyrifos, which is known as

Dursban and Lorsban, must terminate by the end of 2001.

The prohibition will help Newport Beach because chlorpyrifos happens to

be a major problem in Newport Bay, said Deputy City Manager Dave Kiff.

That chemical is one of two -- the other being the pesticide diazinon --

that is present in the bay in concentrations that are considered “acutely

toxic,” Kiff said.

The chemical enters Newport Bay primarily through runoff from commercial

and residential sources. And, like many contaminants that enter the bay

through runoff, it can be difficult to control simply because its sources

may be far inland.

That’s a problem for the city because the level of chlorpyrifos in the

bay will be more strictly regulated under a new program developed by the

EPA and its state partners. The program will attempt to control the

levels of toxic chemicals and sediment in bodies of water.

However, because of the federal ban, Newport will be spared the

difficulty of trying to control chlorpyrifos by persuading neighboring

cities to give up their pesticides.

Kenneth Theisen, sanitary engineering associate for the California

Regional Water Quality Control Board, emphasized that the “acutely toxic”

levels of chlorpyrifos in the bay are not harmful to adult humans, but

pose a threat to tiny marine organisms, such as water fleas.

A study has also indicated that the chemical could potentially damage the

brain and nervous system of children, Theisen said.

“Children are not just small adults,” said Carol Browner, an

administrator for the EPA, in a statement released last week. “Their

bodies are still developing and more susceptible to risks from toxic

chemicals.”

But the specific risks to children are associated with much higher

concentrations of the pesticide than those found in the bay, Theisen

said. At its worst, there are a few hundred parts per trillion of

chlorpyrifos in local waters.

Even so, Theisen said, the new ban will help Newport Beach.

“We’ll be able to see if [runoff from domestic sources] was really our

source [of contamination],” he said.

If eliminating home use of the chemical results in lower levels of

chlorpyrifos in the bay, it may point the way toward solving other

chemical problems.

“We’ll see how effective that change in use practices was, and then maybe

we can consider something similar for diazinon,” Theisen said.