The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Los Angeles District will begin dredging the Newport Bay Harbor entrance channel and perform repairs on the harbour's east jetty at Newport Beach, California, later this month.
A US$3 million contract to perform the work was awarded in February to Pacific Dredge and Construction located in San Diego. The City of Newport Beach is the non-federal sponsor of the project.
The USACE expects the works to be completed by late June 2021.
The harbour's entrance channel will be dredged to its authorised federal depth of six metres mean lower low water (MLLW) and placing rock and repairing concrete along the east jetty.
About 52,000 cubic metres of sediment will be removed from the entrance channel during the process, with an option to remove an additional 58,000 cubic metres from Balboa Reach, which is also known as the main channel.
The beach-quality dredged material from the entrance channel will be placed in the nearshore area along Balboa Beach, southeast of Balboa Pier, which is beneficial to the peninsula beach. Material from the main channel will be taken to LA-3, a US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved ocean disposal site located 4.3 nautical miles southwest of the harbour's entrance.
