Posted on November 3, 2021
Stretches of beach in West Newport are about to get wider.
Annual maintenance of the Santa Ana River outlet kicked off this week. The county project pulls sand from the waterway to help with flood control, then makes use of it to replenish the shoreline between the rock jetties and near the Balboa Pier – areas that have suffered erosion in recent years and are prone to flooding when big surf and high tides hit.
The maintenance project, done in collaboration with the city of Newport Beach, happens every October and requires large equipment to remove excess sand that has naturally accumulated in the flood channel’s outlet, Shannon Widor, spokesman for OC Public Works, said.
“Basically, the purpose is to remove that built-up sand to restore larger capacity for rainwater in the flood control area, as we’re now entering the annual storm season,” he wrote in an email. “Removing the excess sand will help prevent potential water flow blockages.”
A secondary goal of the project is to add sand to the eroding beaches.
The sand loss along area beaches from Surfside to San Clemente has been a hot topic in recent years, as federal assistance for regular beach replenishment has lagged. Shrinking beaches mean smaller sand buffers to help keep the sea from reaching homes and infrastructure.
Newport Beach last year got a glimpse at how fragile its stretch of beach is when high tides and big surf sent saltwater gushing from the ocean near the Balboa Pier, gridlocking traffic and flooding parking lots, streets and homes.
Huntington Beach and Newport Beach are awaiting federal budget approval for a requested replenishment project that would seed 12 miles of their coastline with sand. Also hoping for funding is San Clemente for a similar smaller scale project.
The amount being dredged in Newport Beach starting this week, an estimated 70,000 to 100,000 cubic yards of sand, is much smaller than the more than 1 million cubic yards the federal government would fund, but it will serve as a quick shot to help keep beaches sandy.
The Santa Ana River dredging project also helps “maintain the natural tidal flow of water coming into the channel from the ocean as well – this keeps water moving in the marsh area behind Newport Shores, preventing stagnant water and keeping conditions that are helpful for marine life there,” Widor said.
Crews will transport the removed sand to beach areas between 52nd Street and 40th Street and also next to the Balboa Pier. The jetties along West Newport, which stick like fingers out into the ocean, were placed there in the ’60s after big storms chomped away at the sand and threatened beach-front homes.
The project was supposed to start in October, but the oil spill and clean-up response caused a delay in the start and completion dates for the project, Widor said.
Heavy machinery was already in place when the oil spill occurred in early October off Huntington Beach so county workers were able to quickly mobilize to build a berm at the river mouth and keep the expanding spill from reaching sensitive wetlands habitat.
The sand being removed now will be visually inspected for notable debris prior to placement on beach areas, Widor said.
The project will run through the end of February and may impact beach access in the area.
“Safety is our other top priority. With the use of large equipment, we will have project personnel and barriers at the site to inform the public and keep them safely out of the work area,” Widor said. “We work together with Newport Beach Lifeguards when transporting the sand down the beach to ensure the public is safely out of the way.”
