VIDEO — Meet the Newport Bay Trash Interceptor
If you’re wondering how the innovative Newport Bay Trash Interceptor operates, this video is for you! See how the device collects trash and debris from the San Diego Creek before it can pollute the Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve, harbor and beaches.
The trash interceptor will stop about 80% of floating trash and debris that collects in the San Diego Creek from a regional watershed, amounting to hundreds of tons each year.
The California Coastal Commission is preparing to consider permitting plans for an important Newport Harbor dredging project. The City of Newport Beach would like to remind residents about the critical need for this project and clarify key topics, including the rigorous environmental analysis that supports the proposal.
Dredging Newport Harbor is critical to maintain safe navigation and a well-functioning harbor. Over the past several decades, sediment has washed down into Newport Bay and accumulated at the bottom of Newport Harbor, which reduces water depths, impedes navigation and diminishes natural tidal flushing. Periodic dredging of Newport Harbor is essential to maintain safe, navigable waterways for recreational, commercial and public safety vessels; increase necessary ocean water flushing to support good water quality and habit and support the economic vitality of the harbor. In total, the project will dredge and remove about 1.2 million cubic yards of accumulated sediment, therefore returning the waterways to their original depths of -10 to -20 feet. Without dredging, sediment will continue to build up, making navigation more difficult and dangerous and decrease tidal flushing, leading to more stagnant water conditions.
To Residents, Yachtsmen and Newport Harbor Users:
The City of Newport Beach has been working with the Army Corps of Engineers for several years on a significant dredging project that will bring Newport Harbor to its authorized design depth which will enhance water quality, allow the bay to properly flush thus eliminating the need to dredge again for many years, remove some unsuitable materials that are lying on the floor of the bay today, and provide for the long term navigability of our harbor.
The Newport Beach City Council certified the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) in May 2021 and directed staff to proceed with securing permits for the project. The EIR is posted on the City’s website here.
The Newport Harbor Foundation has learned that there are a few in the community that are spreading spurious misinformation about the project and the Newport Harbor Foundation believes that it is important that presenting those interested in the dredging project be provided with the facts.
Chairman Murray and Members of the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board:
My name is Dennis Durgan and I serve as Chairman of the Newport Harbor Foundation. The Foundation was founded in 2019 for the purpose of preserving, protecting and enhancing Newport Harbor for the benefit of the City of Newport Beach, the homeowners on or near the bay, the commercial operators in the bay, and the recreational users of the bay. The Foundation’s founders, contributors, and members are made up of individuals and business who have a long history of using and enjoying the harbor and a vested interest in its enhancement and preservation for use by current and future generations. On behalf the Foundation and its Board of Directors, I am reaching out to you to express our support for the currently pending project for dredging of Newport Harbor and construction of the confined aquatic disposal (CAD) site.
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