Newport Beach City Manager Update:
Water Wheel Trash Interceptor
By Guest Contributor Grace Leung, Newport Beach City Manager – July 17, 2023
Source: Newport Beach Independent Newport Beach City Manager Update: Water Wheel Trash Interceptor
Grace Leung, Newport Beach City Manager
I am pleased to report that a long-awaited water quality project, the Newport Bay Trash Interceptor, was approved this week by the Newport Beach City Council.
On Tuesday, July 11, the City Council awarded a $3.9 million construction contract to Brea-based Jilk Heavy Construction, Inc. We expect to break ground this fall and begin operations in 2024.
The Trash Interceptor is a sustainably powered, floating trash and debris collection system that will be built in the San Diego Creek between the Jamboree Road Bridge and MacArthur Boulevard Bridge, upstream from the Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve.
The Trash Interceptor will greatly reduce the amount of trash and debris that washes into the bay, harbor and ocean areas adjacent to Balboa Peninsula from upstream inland communities of the Newport Bay watershed.
The Newport Bay watershed spans 154 square miles, encompassing the cities of Irvine, Tustin, Orange, Lake Forest, Laguna Hills, Costa Mesa, Santa Ana and Newport Beach, that includes a vast drainage network of storm drains, rivers, creeks and canals.
The Trash Interceptor, modeled after a similar system in Baltimore Harbor, will sit on a floating platform that rises and falls with the tide. The platform will be secured to the creek bottom by guide piles. The platform will hold a 14-foot wheel that spins using power from the creek’s current or solar panels to move a conveyor belt.
Trash floating downriver will be collected in four steps, as shown in the drawing above:
- A boom system directs floating trash toward the Interceptor.
- A spinning rake moves trash from the boom area to the conveyor belt.
- Trash is deposited from the conveyor belt into a collection container.
- When full, the container is moved by a short rail system to be transferred to a standard trash truck.
The system is expected to reduce the amount of waste reaching the Upper Newport Bay by 80 percent (from an estimated 100 to 300 tons a year). It will supplement other public and private efforts already in place – such as trash booms, storm drain collection systems, and floating skimmers – that protect sensitive aquatic environments.
I would like to thank our funding partners for making this project possible. They include the State of California, Help Your Harbor/Surfrider Foundation, Ocean Protection Council, and the Orange County Transportation Authority. I also want to thank Senator David Min and Assembly Member Diane Dixon for requesting and advocating for the State funding, and the members of the City’s Water Quality/Coastal Tidelands Committee for their ongoing support and advocacy of the project.
I look forward to bringing you further updates as we begin construction this fall.
Source: Newport Beach Independent Newport Beach City Manager Update: Water Wheel Trash Interceptor
High Marks from Pumpout & Dump Station Monitoring Program
Southern California Clean Vessel Act Pumpout & Dump Station Monitoring Program
Recent surveys were conducted on the following Public Docks on Sep 27, 2022.
California Coastal Commission – SUMMARY OF STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Coastal Commission staff‘s reasons for recommending approval of the City of Newport Beach
Item 17a – Application No. 5-21-0640
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.
Who will operate/maintain the interceptor once operations begin?
This is great news for our harbor and beaches health. Although this is needed in the Santa Ana river inlet even more than the San Diego inlet.
The amount of rubbish that is deposited on both the northern beaches of Newport and the state beaches of Huntington definitely outweighs any coming out of the harbor. It would be fantastic to see both of these inlets covered by this technology.
Sincerely,
Curt Mitchell (Newport Shores)