Newport Beach harbor is in shallow trouble
A dredging project is running out of money before the work is done, leaving both boaters and bird-watchers unhappy.
Everyone agrees that thick sediment deposits are threatening to transform pristine Upper Newport Bay into a meadow.
But the biggest threat to the ecologically important estuary may not be the silt and mud clogging it. Instead, the culprit is likely another one: money. Or rather the lack of it.
A dredge and barge began work two years ago to remove 2.3 million cubic yards of built-up muck, with a projected cost of nearly $39 million. But with barely half the work done, local officials say a lack of funding could sink the project.
"We want to see the sediment removed to protect the resources of the ecological preserve from being damaged," said Tom Rossmiller, Newport Beach harbor resources manager. "But also to keep the sediment from going into the Lower Newport Bay and creating a problem with boat navigation."
The problem, officials and experts said, is that dredging the channel was deferred for a decade.
Since 1998, storms sent torrential runoff from upstream communities as far north as Lake Forest into San Diego Creek and filled the bay's sediment catch basins.
That has resulted in tons of silt traveling from the ecologically sensitive upper bay into the city's lower bay -- the marina area where thousands of boats are docked. At low tide, some are running aground in some silt-choked channels near Linda, Lido and Harbor isles.
"We have had grounding of vessels already, and at a recent regatta . . . alternative docks had to be set up in deeper water," said Newport Beach City Councilwoman Leslie Daigle.
Last year, Daigle and the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce sought a congressional allocation of $11 million to help with the dredging project but received only $2.2 million. In frustration, they began circulating a petition this month that urges the county's congressional delegation to push for more money.
Upper Newport Bay is home to nearly 200 species of birds -- more than a dozen of them endangered. It is also an important stopover for birds on the Pacific Flyway and is the largest open-water estuary in Southern California.
The Army Corps of Engineers is the lead agency on the dredging project, which has removed about 800,000 cubic yards of sediment. But the corps is now in talks with the dredging company to possibly reduce the scope of the work in some areas, said Jane Grandon, a corps official with the Los Angeles office.
