Sanitation district will fix Newport Dunes sewer pipes

Paul Clinton

NEWPORT BEACH -- The Orange County Sanitation District has brought

aboard a builder to replace a major sewer artery snaking along the

eastern edge of Upper Newport Bay.

The district’s 25-member board hired Ken Thompson Inc., of Cypress, to

complete the $8.09-million job at its Wednesday meeting.

The district also approved a $6,500 payment to Newport Dunes Resort

and modified the work plans. The agency bought the right to use the

resort’s property during construction.

During the project, the district will repair 2,700 feet and replace

6,800 feet of sewer pipe located in Big Canyon and on Back Bay Drive.

Workers will need to carefully navigate the nature preserve, district

spokeswoman Lisa Lawson said. The project will stop sewage leaks from the

pipe into the natural habitat.

“It’s a major concern from a water-quality perspective to get that

line repaired,” Lawson said.

District officials learned they needed to repair a corroded 24-inch

iron pipe when a mudslide exposed an array of pinhole leaks in the line

during El Nino in 1998. The line was installed in 1981.

The contractor will use robot technology to smooth out the interior of

the line. A new, smaller pipe will then be inserted inside the existing

pipe.

Workers will dig trenches between Newport Dunes and Shellmaker Island

and install the new pipes, which will be encased in concrete.

The project is expected to begin in September and take a year to

complete. As a result of the work, sections of Back Bay Drive will be

closed. The joggers and bicycle riders will need to find a different

route, Newport Beach Public Works Director Don Webb said.

“We’re very happy to have a sewer line replaced when it needs to be,”

Webb said. “It’s going to be an inconvenience to the recreational users.”

As part of the agreement, the contractor will also repave Back Bay

Drive.

Newport Beach and the district will split the $120,000 cost of the

paving work on 1.2 miles of Back Bay. The city will pay for the half-mile

section of the road, which will not be dug up during the work.