Dredging won’t add to sand on beach

Alicia Robinson

Sand to be dredged from the Santa Ana River won’t be spread on the

beach here as many residents feared, officials said Tuesday.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers planned to replenish beaches

between 32nd and 56th streets with sand from 400,000 cubic yards of

river sediment, which city officials thought would be a win-win

project that would overhaul the river while protecting the city’s

beaches from erosion.

But West Newport residents loudly protested, saying the river sand

could contain trash and bacteria that would foul the beach. Many also

argued that additional sand could ruin wave patterns and create

dangerous shore breaks.

After working with the city of Newport Beach, project officials

now plan to pump the dredged material into the water offshore, an

option residents said they prefer. Work should begin in about three

weeks, when special dredging equipment is expected to arrive from

Oregon, said Girish Desai, a project manager for the U.S. Army Corps

of Engineers.

The sediment will be pumped through a 12-inch pipe to an offshore

fill area north of 56th Street, about 2,000 feet closer to the river

than it would have been under the earlier plan, he said.

Officials now expect 500,000 cubic yards of material to be removed

from the river, but it’s not yet clear how much will be deposited

offshore and how much might go to other communities that want to

replenish beaches, Desai said. The project was expected to cost about

$4.5 million if the sand had been spread onto the beach with trucks.

The cost of the offshore pumping alternative is not known.

Unlike the beach-disposal option, no one’s kicking sand on the

offshore-disposal plan.

“The contractor and the corps have really gone out of their way to

make this a project that works for the community, and we’re very

happy with what we’ve seen,” Newport Beach Assistant City Manager

Dave Kiff said.

The city still gets free sand to prevent beach erosion, because

the waves will wash the sand back onto shore, and residents are happy

because the ocean cleanses the sand and sifts out rocks and debris,

he said.

“It won’t put 100% of [the sand] on the beach, but if the wave

conditions are good, it could put a good 80% to 90% of it on the

beach,” Kiff said. “This would be mirroring the way that nature would

do it.”

At least one resident who protested the beach disposal is glad the

city listened to her.

“I think that there were a bunch of errors made in the beginning,

in the planning stages, and it seems that with a little bit of

citizen effort, we were able to achieve a positive change,” Seashore

Drive resident Barbara De La Pena said. “I feel like the little

engine that could.”

The project should take about three months if the contractor hired

by the corps is allowed to work around the clock every day. The corps

needs the city’s permission to work 24 hours a day, which Kiff said

will be granted if a noise test shows the operations won’t disturb

residents.

The corps also needs a permit from the South Coast Air Quality

Management District to operate the diesel-fueled dredging equipment,

Desai said.

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers business, politics and the environment.

She may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at

[email protected].