Beach Spared From Dumping of Sludge

The Army Corps of Engineers, responding to complaints about its plans to dump foul-smelling ocean sludge on Dockweiler State Beach near Playa del Rey, has decided to deposit the material near the Hyperion sewer plant instead.

The Army periodically vacuums sediment from the ocean bottom near Ballona Creek and Marina del Rey Harbor to remove material that could become a threat to navigation. The corps plans to spend $1.2 million to dredge 220,000 cubic yards of material beginning in February.

Mud, sand and organic material removed from the ocean floor was dumped on nearby beaches when the area was last dredged in 1981, prompting complaints from Playa del Rey residents that the deposits of black goo disrupted surf fishing and smelled awful.

“Last time they dredged they designed it with heads in their back pockets,” said Joe McFadden, a member of the Playa del Rey Homeowners Assn. “They dug huge pits in front of homes in Playa del Rey and dumped the dredgings in those pits. They were unsightly and stunk.”

County Officials Consulted

Corps spokesman Larry Hawthorne said the corps has consulted with Los Angeles County officials and decided Wednesday to dump all the sludge in front of the Hyperion Sewage Treatment Plant rather than on Dockweiler Beach.

“In order to minimize the inconvenience to neighbors, we will be depositing all of the dredge material” at Hyperion, he said.

Said McFadden: “Maybe pressure . . . from the citizenry can do some good. I think it is a much wiser decision because nobody to my knowledge uses the beach in front of the Hyperion plant.”

Hawthorne said it is Army policy to test all material for toxicity before dumping it on beaches. Any toxic sludge is dumped at sea.

The Army deposits the sludge on beaches because the material sucked up by the corps is valuable, Hawthorne said.

Many beaches near urban areas must be artificially replenished with sand because the rerouting of rivers and streams has disrupted the process in which sediments flow into the ocean and wash up on beaches, Hawthorne said. The corps uses the sludge, which is mostly sand, to restore eroding beaches.

But the drawback to this method of beach restoration is that the material taken from the ocean floor has an offensive odor until the organic matter has rotted away. In time, the deposited sludge is bleached by the sun and blends in with the original beach.

“If we didn’t replace sand on beaches the erosion is such that they will eventually lose much of their sand,” Hawthorne said. “So . . . the right thing to do is to retain as much sand as you can and not throw it away by depositing it out at sea.”

Hawthorne suggested that the material the Army plans to dredge can be trucked to Dockweiler, if necessary, after it no longer smells bad.