Here you’ll be looking at a combination water treatment facility / wetlands reserve. The entrance is off of Michelson Drive and parking along Riparian View Road. If you continue past the Water Reclamation Plant there is a parking lot next to the Audubon Society Building along with picnic tables and bathrooms. Don't turn in until you see the Autobon Society sign. You can also park on Riparian View Road before teh water reclamation plant and walk through the marsh to the coordinates. Guided bird walks are provided and some plants are labeled. A trail map is located at Sea and Sage Audubon website and a glossy brochure of the system is available at http://www.naturaltreatmentsystem.org/pdf/NTSnewsletter.pdf
It is estimated that 90 percent of California wetlands have disappeared during the last century. The San Joaquin Freshwater Marsh Reserve (SJFMR) and The San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary (SJWS) are examples of not only the preservation of what wetlands are left, but also in restoring some wetlands while meeting the needs of the community.
July, 2003
source: EagleAerial
To the southwest across Campus Drive is the SJFMWR which is part of the University of California. Public access requires a permit and it is used mostly for research and teaching. Since we can’t easily access it we’ll turn our attention to the SJWS.
The SJWS is 300 acres of restored and natural coastal freshwater wetlands and includes a wastewater treatment plant. It is home to 200 bird species and provides a stop along the Pacific Flyway. The SJWS owned by the Irvine Ranch Water District (IRWD) is open to the public and free of charge. There are miles of trails that maze through the various ponds.
The significance of the SJWS is that it provides vital habitat and outdoor recreational opportunities while providing treatment of surface water runoff. It has also been used as a model for a proposed surface water treatment plan that would utilize smaller freshwater marshes distributed throughout the watershed. This plan is expected to be more cost effective than building and maintaining a treatment facility and associated infrastructure.
As you noted in the above paragraph, the marsh is used to treat surface water runoff. Untreated sewer water does not enter the marsh. There is a distinction between surface water runoff and sewer water. Water from these two systems is kept separate. Sewer water is transported to the wastewater treatment plant in underground pipes and processed before it is released. Surface water runoff flows directly from the streets, landscaping, agricultural fields, and open spaces into concrete-lined engineered channels that drain to the ocean. Thus the signs on many street drains that say “drains to ocean.”
There are two types of surface water runoff, storm water runoff and dry weather runoff. Storm water runoff comes from precipitation. Dry weather runoff is any water that does not occur as the direct result of precipitation, such as over watering, car washing in the street, perennial stream flow, treatment plant discharge, etc. In its natural state, this watershed would have no dry weather runoff, however due to the channelization and importation of water, San Diego Creek flows almost year round. Each type of runoff has its own characteristic set of contaminants. Storm water usually has petroleum products washed off the streets while dry weather water usually has excess nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus.
Historically surface water has not been treated and has discharged directly to the remaining wetlands, bays, and oceans along the coast. The result is the frequent closure of beaches following rains and in this case, poor water quality in the Upper Newport Bay in dry weather. The Upper Newport Bay has been labeled an “impaired water body” under the Federal Clean Water Act (CWA). In order to comply with the CWA and try to clean up the water entering the Upper Newport Bay, the IRWD has taken advantage of natural processes treat the dry weather runoff and the initial parts of storm water runoff.
Water flow from San Diego Creek (the creek you drove along as you parked) is diverted into a series of ponds beginning with Pond C, (N 33 39.843 W 117 50.409). The IRWD estimates that between 3.25 and 6.5 million gallons of water are diverted daily. Water then moves through the various artificial ponds (at the given coordinates) for two weeks. As you can see, throughout the artificial ponds there are numerous species of plant and bird species.
Some of the key contaminants that are removed by the wetlands include nitrogen, phosphorus, petroleum products, and high levels of bacteria. The nitrogen and phosphorus are removed by wetland plants and interactions with the soils. Petroleum products are broken down by bacteria and the concentration of bacteria is reduced by ultraviolet light in shallow waters. The treated water (N 33 39.886 W 117 50.714) is then discharged back to San Diego Creek and on into Upper Newport Bay.
source: Irvine Ranch Water District
Adjacent to the artificial treatment ponds are existing and manufactured riparian (river) habitat (N 33 40.073 W 117 50.657). From this location, the existing habitat is to the northwest and the manufactured habitat is to the southeast. I couldn’t tell the difference. There are signs stating that bobcats and raccoons have been seen in the preserve so it appears that the wildlife can’t either.
(N 33 40.073 W 117 50.657).
On the way back out, pass over the boardwalk (N 33 39.877 W 117 50.528). This boardwalk takes you out across an area that is sometimes covered in water. It wasn’t when I went through and I’d be interested to see when it does fill with water.
If the flow in the creek is low you can also see one of the sediment trapping basins in the creek (N 33 39.639 W 117 50.399). As the water slows behind this concrete structure, sediment is deposited in the basin instead of in the Upper Newport Bay. The sediment can more easily be removed from these basins than from the bay reducing the dredging that was required in order to maintain the bay ecosystem.
The San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary is a low cost way to remove the contaminants while improving water quality in Upper Newport Bay and provide critical wetland habitat and a resting spot on the Pacific Flyway Layover. The IRWD plans to create smaller versions of the artificial wetlands throughout the watershed to increase the treatment capacity of this system. Once in place, this system will have a much lower maintenance cost than an artificial treatment facility and create additional habitat and recreational opportunities throughout the watershed.
Logging requirements:
Send me a note with :
- The text "GCPAFC San Joaquin Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary" on the first line
- The number of people in your group.
- Name at least 3 features that are similar between the artificial wetlands used for water treatment and the restored wetlands.
The following sources were used to generate this cache.
- http://members.cox.net/jdmount/pliovert.html
- http://www.irwd.com/Environment/WildlifeSanctuary.html
- http://nrs.ucop.edu/reserves/sjfm/moreinfo.html
- http://www.seaandsageaudubon.org/sjws.htm
- http://www.seaandsageaudubon.org/sjwsarticlebycat.htm