Orange County residents worry herbicides are poisoning waterways

Residents involved concerning the potential poisoning of Orange County waterways with herbicides have been making their voices heard on Instagram and pressured the county into holding a gathering on the difficulty Monday night time.

Their effort has uncovered tensions between individuals who see the waterways as pure creeks and county officers who see them as flood channels.

Brent Linas, a 41-year-old tech gross sales director in San Juan Capistrano, launched the Creek Staff OC Instagram account after seeing adjustments on his runs alongside San Juan and Trabuco creeks. Lush inexperienced reeds within the channel had abruptly turned brown and lifeless, and birds had disappeared.

Linas stated when county officers ignored and brushed apart his complaints, he and others turned to social media.

“We wish an finish to the usage of herbicides in our creeks,” Linas stated. “This concept that we’re simply going to spray, dampen these creeks and depart them lifeless is unacceptable.”

Brent Linas walks by foliage alongside the Trabuco Creek the place no herbicide was sprayed.

The account has gained greater than 4,600 followers in three weeks. Linas and different residents have filed requests for data detailing the chemical compounds the county makes use of to manage vegetation within the waterways, equivalent to glyphosate, triclopyr and imazapyr.

They’ve posted photos of staff spraying chemical compounds and used synthetic intelligence to make illustrations resembling film posters and old school journal adverts, some with surfers beneath the slogan “Countless Herbicides.”

San Juan Creek meets the ocean beside the favored surf break at Doheny State Seaside. Linas, who usually takes his two children there, stated surfers are offended concerning the spraying and are serving to make fliers.

Orange County Public Works officers defend their practices.

“Vegetation administration in flood management channels is performed to keep up flood safety capability and shield public security,” Dave Ahern, a spokesperson for the company, stated in an electronic mail. “When chemical therapies are used, they’re utilized in a restricted and focused method, in keeping with relevant laws.”

The county will maintain a city corridor in Dana Level on Monday night time to supply data and listen to from the general public.

County Supervisor Katrina Foley stated she usually opposes utilizing herbicides in waterways. Her district consists of San Juan Capistrano, Dana Level and the flood management channels of San Juan Creek and Trabuco Creek.

Birds relaxation alongside San Juan Creek close to Doheny State Seaside in Dana Level.

“I would really like us to make use of the least poisonous various potential, wherever potential,” Foley stated in an interview. On the similar time, she stated, the county should preserve channels away from vegetation and at full capability to guard neighborhoods towards flooding.

The county makes use of solely herbicides permitted by state water regulators and the federal Environmental Safety Company, and crews don’t spray throughout fowl nesting season or when endangered Southern California steelhead trout could also be swimming upstream to spawn, the supervisor stated.

Paperwork obtained by the Creek Staff element chemical compounds utilized in 2024 to “eradicate nuisance weeds” in flood management channels, or “washes,” as many Southern Californians know them. In addition they present the county plans to spray herbicides on greater than 2,000 acres in dozens of channels and basins this 12 months, amongst them the Santa Ana River and Aliso Creek.

The State Water Assets Management Board regulates herbicide use on aquatic crops and grants permits with necessities for utilizing these chemical compounds.

State data present that in 2024 the county violated guidelines by submitting knowledge that was “incomplete, inaccurate, or inconsistent.” Orange County Public Works wrote that it was “conducting a radical overview” to make sure compliance.

The state water board permits glyphosate, the important thing ingredient within the herbicide Roundup, for use on crops in waterways.

The weedkiller has come beneath rising scrutiny as Bayer, Roundup’s maker, has confronted 1000’s of lawsuits alleging it did not warn individuals it may trigger most cancers. (In February, the corporate introduced a proposed $7.25-billion settlement to resolve 1000’s of fits by most cancers sufferers. President Trump’s current order to improve home manufacturing of glyphosate has angered activists who beforehand supported him.)

Supervisor Foley stated she realized the county used Roundup in San Juan Creek a couple of 12 months in the past and made a criticism. She stated the county has not used that chemical since January 2025 within the San Juan and Trabuco flood channels.

Brent Linas began a neighborhood group referred to as The Creek Staff OC to talk out on social media about how the county is utilizing herbicides in creeks.

A report obtained by residents exhibits that in July, staff sprayed completely different herbicides in San Juan Creek, together with triclopyr and imazapyr. Totaling the gallons listed, Linas calculated they sprayed 8 tons — a determine he has repeatedly used within the marketing campaign with the demand “Cease the Ecocide!”

Foley stated it was truly 34 kilos of herbicide “diluted with 8 tons of water,” and that officers try to make use of the “least quantity” potential. She is pushing the county to contemplate alternate options, together with maybe hand weeding and even grazing goats.

“My aim is to attempt to discover each potential method that we are able to keep away from utilizing chemical compounds,” she stated.

Nevertheless, she doesn’t see the washes as pure creeks.

“The aim of the channel is to not maintain habitat,” she stated. “The aim of the channel is to accommodate water throughout a flood.”

Linas disagrees. He beforehand lived for years in San Diego County, the place he ran alongside waterways teeming with birds amongst reeds, willows and sycamores.

Beachgoers play within the water on the mouth of the San Juan Creek because it flows into the Pacific Ocean.

In a submit that garnered greater than 17,000 likes, Linas requested: “Why do Orange County’s rivers appear to be this when San Diego’s rivers appear to be this?” He confirmed a barren creekbed full of cobbles, then a inexperienced wetland full of geese.

San Diego County “lets rivers be rivers and ecosystems handle themselves,” Linas stated. (A spokesperson confirmed that San Diego County Public Works manages vegetation in waterways by hand or utilizing tools.)

Linas stated the spraying is “destroying these important ecosystems” and posing well being threats for individuals who reside close by. At a minimal, he stated, the county must notify the general public when staff are going to spray.