Editorial: Don’t break the bank on selenium

The high levels of selenium found in the Upper Newport Bay watershed are troubling indeed. State water quality officials earlier this month ordered Orange County, Newport Beach and several other cities, public agencies and private entities whose lands lie upstream from the estuary to pay perhaps hundreds of millions to fix the problem.

This natural chemical is an essential nutrient for living species and organisms. But large concentrations can be poisonous to birds, mammals and humans, according to the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Health Center.

Selenium can cause deformities in avian embryos when birds ingest food like fish that contain toxic traces of the chemical. During the 1980s, high levels of selenium in the wetlands of Kesterton National Wildlife Refuge in the San Joaquin Valley killed many migratory birds.

The state’s Regional Water Quality Control Board has ordered the city of Newport Beach to lower the levels of selenium found in San Diego Creek, a tributary that flows into the Upper Bay, said City Manager Dave Kiff. He said high levels of selenium also have been discovered in Big Canyon Creek, located elsewhere in the watershed. The state hasn’t ordered the city to decontaminate that tributary, but Newport Beach has some relatively inexpensive ideas for reducing selenium levels along both creeks, Kiff said.

Selenium becomes a problem when large concentrations of it convert into its toxic form, known as selenate, he said. As Kiff sees it, a solution for the selenium problem — particularly along San Diego Creek — would be to install a pipe that would channel the contaminated water into the Santa Ana River. He thinks it would be more simple and practical than a range of possible solutions that the state wants Newport Beach to explore.

We urge the city to take measures such as the one Kiff outlined to safeguard the endangered bird species that flock to Upper Newport Bay. At the same time, however, we call on the state not to force Newport Beach into dealing with the selenium issue in a way that would strain the city’s budget even more in these tough economic times.