Upper Newport Bay

These days, Upper Newport Bay is a glistening testament to The Ranch's commitment to protecting and enhancing water quality, and to the effectiveness of close collaboration among a diverse range of interests. The bay is one of Southern California's most popular and scenic natural settings. But in the late 1970s, its beauty masked a troubling reality: The bay, acquired by the California Department of Fish and Game in 1975, was being harmed by sediment flowing from Orange County's foothills, agricultural operations, construction sites and urban areas-so much so that the Southern California Area of Governments declared sedimentation of the bay the number one water-quality issue confronting Southern California.

Determined to restore the bay to pristine condition, the Irvine Company in the early 1980s teamed with Fish and Game; the County of Orange; Newport Beach, Irvine and Tustin; the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board; and the Irvine Ranch Water District in one of the first water quality restoration projects of its kind in the nation.

Their efforts, conducted under Section 208 of the federal Clean Water Act, focused on watersheds that drain into Upper Newport Bay, including the vast, 112-square-mile San Diego Creek watershed. Headed by the County of Orange, the coalition developed a long-term, wide-ranging plan for the design, construction, upkeep and shared financing for a series of sediment-control facilities. To date, more than a dozen retarding basins have been built in the foothills, along with channel stabilization facilities and sediment-control basins in the San Diego Creek Channel and the bay itself. The collaborative effort, which is ongoing, has been cited by the Regional Water Quality Control Board as a model for water quality planning and implementation.