Welcome to the Lower Bay Dredging Project
In order to address an ongoing goal of the C06/25/2009 Geotechnical Reportity Council, Harbor Commission and the community, the City is working with the Corps of Engineers to take the necessary steps in planning for a Lower Bay dredging project. Before materials may be dredged, there needs to be a disposal solution for contaminated sediments. Preliminary estimates indicate approximately one million cubic meters of material from the federal area of responsibility requires dredging. However, a significant portion of that material is contaminated and not suitable for ocean disposal. In addition, there is some material around certain docks and slips that cannot be removed due to contamination. The City would like to find a solution that also accommodates the needs of the many tenants of the harbor. To that effect, the City has completed a study to evaluate the possible alternatives for contaminated sediment disposal, including:
(1) Future port fill in LA/Long Beach
(2) On-Site (on-shore) treatment facility
(3) Upland disposal to a landfill
(4) Long Beach CAD site
(5) Newport Harbor Confined Aquatic Disposal (CAD) site.
A Confined Aquatic Disposal (CAD) site is a location in the harbor where a large hole is created underwater so the contaminated material can be dumped inside. Then, a cap of clean sand is placed on top, therefore entombing the material. This operation is similar to a dredging project. The City’s report has recommended option #5 above (Newport Harbor CAD) and the City is proposing the location as shown in the yellow box in the open channel area between Via Lido Soud and the peninsula. The black dots in the yellow box represent the location of the geotechnical core drillings that will be performed as part of the City’s exploratory work. Once these cores have been analyzed, City staff will likely bring the CAD concept before the City Council this summer to begin the engineering and environmental process which will take about one year. Please contact Harbor Resources with any questions at 949-644-3034.
