Rain, birds blamed for delay

Andrew Edwards

Heavy storms and small nesting birds, rather than a dredging boat

running aground again in West Newport, will delay completion of the

Santa Ana River dredging project until autumn, officials said

Tuesday.

Despite the delay, the price tag will not exceed the $5 million

outlined in the original contract.

“That’s all we have for it,” U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project

manager Ken Morris said.

The Corps of Engineers contracted Santa Ana-based CJW Construction

Inc. to dig sediments out of the river, and dredging began in

November. The project has been set back by numerous delays associated

with winter storms and the two occasions, the more recent being

Friday, when the dredging boat Eland ran aground.

The Corps of Engineers signed a performance-based contract with

CJW that will pay the company based on the amount of sediment that is

removed from the river, regardless of how long the project takes,

Morris said. The contract calls for 450,000 cubic yards of muck to be

scraped from the river.

Representatives from CJW could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

The 167-foot Eland ran aground for the second time near West

Newport at about 9 p.m. Friday. The craft was removed about 24 hours

later, lifeguard Lt. Brent Jacobsen said. Jacobsen said the boat was

not leaking fuel.

The Eland has been used to guide a pipeline used to discharge

dredged sand into the ocean, Corps of Engineers spokesman Greg

Fuderer said. Dredging activities could resume as early as Saturday

when tug boats would be used to pull the pipeline.

When the project started, officials expected dredging would be

completed around the middle of this month, and crews were asked to

work nonstop to reach that goal.

However, no dredging has occurred this month, Fuderer said. The

project was put on hold when heavy storm flows made work too

dangerous, and when the Eland ran aground Friday, the boat was being

used in preparations to resume digging.

What happened Friday had a minimal effect on the project’s

timeline, Fuderer said. Previous delays ensured that dredging would

not have finished by the beginning of the least tern nesting season.

The endangered birds lay their eggs in sandy areas and typically

begin nesting around mid-March.

Some of the dredged sand was deposited on an island near the

river’s mouth to be used by the terns. The project’s permit prohibits

dredging activities that would disturb the birds during their nesting

season, meaning an effort expected to take four months could be

stretched as long as a year.

“It looks like it’s going to be November,” Fuderer said.