The Sands of Time

The panoramic view from John Kriss’ balcony has given him endless hours of gorgeous sunsets over the blue Pacific. But the ocean that provides Kriss and other Surfside residents such visual pleasure has also eroded their beach down to the bare rock.

Residents are worried whether a $7.7-million project to build up the narrow strip of beach protecting their homes will be done in time to avoid the rainy season that would further wear away the beach, leaving their homes vulnerable to the crashing tides.

“We’re really concerned that the job is done, and done soon,” Kriss said, expressing frustration that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers didn’t begin work by Oct. 1 as planned. The corps “has done all the surveys, and we’re waiting to have them get this done before we have a storm.”

The corps awarded a sand replenishment contract to a New Jersey dredging company, but delays mean work may not begin until late November or early December, cutting close to California’s winter storm season.

Unfinished details could take more time before Weeks Marine Inc. of Cranford, N.J., sets sail with its 300-foot dredging vessel from the East Coast to California through the Panama Canal. Estimated time for the 5,000-mile journey is five to six weeks, said Eric Ellefsen, general manager of Weeks’ hydraulic group.

November and December traditionally have extreme high tides, which can combine with strong storm swells to threaten Surfside homes before the dredging operation is completed.

Average rainfall jumps dramatically from October, 0.21 inches, to 1.85 inches in November and 1.97 inches in December for Southern California, said Edward O’Lenic, a National Weather Service meteorologist. But highs of as much as 10 to 14 inches of rainfall have been recorded from October through January, he added.

Sean Collins, a Huntington Beach wave forecaster and former Surfside resident, said waiting this long to rebuild Surfside’s beach was tantamount to playing “Russian roulette,” with nature.

Two years ago, Seal Beach had to truck in 18,000 cubic yards of sand at a price tag of $220,000 to protect the beach and homes. Last year, when the beach was dangerously stripped away, the city fortified a sea wall with bulldozers, for another $50,000.

Now, Surfside’s beach is worse than last year, said Stephen Badum, Seal Beach public works director.

“In fact, at the western end, there really isn’t any beach, it’s right down to the [rock],” Badum said. “We’re all kind of waiting when the corps’ project is going to get going.”

Corps project supervisor Donald Spencer said the corps is aware of the time frame but points to the county’s bankruptcy, permit process and environmental concerns as having delayed the project.

The colony traditionally loses its sand because a jetty at Anaheim Bay built by the corps in the 1940s during construction of Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station blocks natural sand movement, meaning that lost sand isn’t replaced.

To offset the loss of sand--up to three feet a year in some places--the corps replenishes sand at Surfside every five to six years. Surfside is a “feeder” beach that helps distribute sand to southern beaches, replenishing Sunset Beach, Bolsa Chica State Beach, Huntington City Beach, Huntington State Beach and the shores of Newport Beach.

Weeks Marine has six months to finish dredging 1.6 million cubic yards of sand and pumping it onto Surfside’s beach. The project also calls for the company to move 140,000 cubic yards of sand from the mouth of the Santa Ana River with earth movers and deposit it along the Newport Beach shoreline.

Under the project’s budget, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers pays $6.4 million; California Department of Boating and Waterways, $1.6 million; state Department of Parks and Recreation, $784,000; Huntington Beach, $95,000; Newport Beach, $189,500; Surfside, $54,000; and Orange County, $474,000.

The project was delayed a year by the county’s bankruptcy, which made funding uncertain. Although summer is best for dredging, federal environmental protection laws for the endangered California least tern, and concern for grunion, forced the corps to wait until fall, Spencer said.

“Dredging causes turbidity in the water for the least terns during the summer, affecting their feeding areas,” Spencer said. “And, with the grunion, if we’re placing sand on the beach while they’re trying to drop their eggs, well, there’s another problem.”

Ellefsen said Weeks will use a vessel that travels about 1 to 2 knots, just 1,000 feet offshore. The vessel has on board two large scooping hoppers that dig up sand about 30 to 40 feet deep and then unload it in the ship’s hold. Once loaded, it motors to an offshore mooring connected to a submerged pipeline and the wet sand is pumped to shore.

On shore, the pipe is aimed with a tractor with large arms that clamp around the 30-inch-wide steel pipe. Final grading is completed with bulldozers, he said.

Ellefsen said he already has visited Surfside and is aware of how narrow the beach has become and the difficult time frame.

“That’s the problem with this job,” he said. “You’re only allowed to work during the winter time. But the window of opportunity was constricted by the environmental laws concerning the least tern bird.”

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Movable Beach

The project to move 1.6 million cubic yards of sand from the ocean floor to a strip of Surfside beach will require a 300-foot dredging vessel and a pipeline. Here’s how the process will work:

1. Dredge hydraulically pumps sand and water aboard, sucking it off ocean bottom through a 27-inch-diameter pipe; 1,000-horsepower motor.

2. Loaded dredge sails to mooring buoy 3,000 feet offshore, pumps solution (85% water, 15% sand) to beach through 30-inch submerged steel pipe.

3. Pipe, fitted to tractor, directs sand onto beach until enough accumulates; additional 40-foot sections split off pipe in both directions; pumping continues.

4. Bulldozers complete final grading.

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How Much Sand?

To move 1.6 million cubic yards of sand would require about 90,000 truck/trailer trips. It would cover about 900 football fields with sand one foot deep.

Note: Drawing not to scale

Source: Weeks Marine Inc.