Rhine Channel dredging beats deadline
Crews finished dredging the Rhine Channel in Newport Beach on Friday, completing the project more than a month ahead of schedule.
The city’s contractor, Dutra Dredging, beat the year-end deadline to drop off the contaminated sediment at the Port of Long Beach.
With the completion of the Rhine Channel dredging, Newport Beach can cross off from its list a major water-quality project. The $4-million undertaking scooped about 90,000 cubic yards of dirt laced with mercury, pesticides and other toxic chemicals.
Now, officials are preparing to dredge parts of the harbor that are also contaminated or are too shallow.
“It’s an excellent example of government working very well,” Councilwoman Leslie Daigle said.
Packed with private docks and marinas, the project was closely choreographed to allow people access to their boats.
Boaters’ willingness to move their boats on time, coupled with the dredgers’ efficiency, made the project run smoothly, said Harbor Resources Manager Chris Miller.
“I’m thankful for the community for helping out,” he said.
Once lined with shipyards, canneries, boat-building and metal plating companies, the Rhine was essentially a marine dump for much of the past century.
Around 2000, environmental groups such as Orange County Coastkeeper began their push to clean the narrow, closed-ended waterway where Cannery Village meets the Balboa Peninsula. The city soon joined the effort.
“We’re really thrilled that the city stepped up on this,” said Ray Hiemstra, Coastkeeper associate director. “We think it’s going to do a lot to improve water quality.”
Newport officials signed on before water quality regulators threatened them with fines, Hiemstra said.
He added that governments often drag their feet on such environmental cleanups.
One major milestone was in October 2010, when the Port of Long Beach agreed to accept the contaminated sediment as fill-dirt for one of its construction projects. Otherwise, the city would have been required to dump it inland — at a much higher cost.
The Port of Long Beach recently agreed to accept more sediment, and extended its deadline to mid-March. Newport officials are coordinating their next phase of harbor dredging accordingly.
The city is aiming for a roughly $8-million project that would still leave some areas shallow, but would produce “very good” boating conditions, Miller said.
Funding for that project could come from the federal government, the city and the county. The Army Corps of Engineers recently identified DDM Crane and Rigging as the lowest bidder.
Because it is affiliated with Dutra Dredging, DDM plans to use some of the same dredging equipment that is already in the harbor.
The City Council still has to approve funding for the remaining dredging.
Twitter: @mreicher