A Sunset Beach-Surfside sand replenishment project aimed at providing a needed supply to north Orange County’s eroding beaches came up short, providing about a third less than expected.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project that kicked off in mid-December was able to deliver only 811,000 cubic yards of the 1.1 million cubic yards of expected sand, U.S Army Corps of Engineers spokesperson Dena O’Dell said in an email.
The $23 million project is spearheaded by the federal government, which provided 65%, or $15.5 million, of the cost of the project, but is also a collaboration between local cities, the county, the state and the Surfside Storm Water Tax District, which combined funds to pay for the rest.
Sand pumped on to Surfside Beach from a barge two miles offshore as part of the Surfside-Sunset & Newport Beach Sand Renourishment Project in Seal Beach, CA, on Wednesday, December 13, 2023. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
It’s unclear if cost of the project will be adjusted due to the shortfall. Already, the project had shrunk in size due to higher-than-expected costs. What was originally proposed as a 1.75 million cubic yards project was chopped to 1.2 million cubic yards, with about 100,000 cubic yards taken out of the Santa Ana River and put on West Newport’s beaches as part of the project.
The Surfside-Sunset project was taking longer than expected and an extension was needed, and approved, for the full amount of sand to be delivered by March 16, but the contractor had mechanical issues that required seven to 10 days of repairs, so the dredging operation concluded on Feb. 29, O’Dell said.
The Army Corps of Engineers is working to see if the contractor can return in September to complete that $23 million project, but it is uncertain at this time, she said.
The project is thought to have regional benefits, with expectations that sand will be pushed down the coast by currents and swells, depositing onto Bolsa Chica, Huntington Beach and toward Newport Beach, to provide a buffer between the ocean and infrastructure.
The Surfside-Sunset sand replenishment project is a vital project required by the Rivers & Harbors Act of 1962 to address the elimination of sediment by natural transport when ports were built and channels were concreted as flood mitigation infrastructure by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Navy in the ’40s and later.
The first beach nourishment project happened in 1964 and for decades was repeated every five to seven years, the last time in 2009.
When it was time for the next round, the need for federal funding stalled and delayed the project. In recent years, the lack of a replenishment was starting to show, with areas of Newport Beach and Bolsa Chica beach experiencing severe erosion and flooding as the ocean inched closer to streets, parking lots and homes.
Local and legislative leaders pushed to restart the project, and federal funds were approved for the project in 2022. The work got underway in December.
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