Newport Taking Steps to Battle Upper Bay Silt

Of all the things that could flow into a body of water, dirt might seem like one of the least harmful.

But the rate at which it is sweeping into Upper Newport Bay is quietly wreaking havoc on both the delicate environment and elegant marinas that line the shore.

“It’s a hidden disaster,” said Ed Benson, a resident of Newport Beach’s Dover Shores area. “It is happening under the water so nobody knows what is going on.”

Dredging the bay of its silty buildup is long overdue, and the situation has become so serious that the city of Newport Beach is taking several unusual steps to remedy the problem.

The City Council recently hired a lobbyist who has invited state legislators to tour the bay as part of an effort to win their support for a dredging project. And city staff last week applied for a $30-million federal grant to create a trust fund to rehabilitate the bay.

“If we don’t get this dredged soon we are going to have a meadow there, not a bay,” City Manager Kevin J. Murphy said.

City officials are not the only ones who have taken note of the buildup in the bay.

Boaters are having difficulty navigating the bay and an increasing number of them are running aground on the sandbars the silt has created. And those that dock in the bay find their vessels are no longer bobbing in the water come low tide.

“This year we have gone from floating to sitting on a sandbar at low tide,” said Shelly Smith, director of the Newport Harbor Nautical Museum, which is housed on a riverboat in Newport Harbor.

“We could be in very serious trouble--structurally--very soon,” Smith said.

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The museum’s monitoring rods, placed under the vessel, show that silt is collecting at the rate of one inch a month.

Apparently, the birds and fish have noticed too.

The bay, the largest estuary remaining in Southern California, attracts more than 200 species of birds, including light-footed clapper rails, California least terns, ducks and herons. It also provides an important habitat for the many marine fish that swim into the calm waters to give birth.

According to Frank Robinson, a Newport Beach resident who heads Friends of Newport Bay, the silt buildup is causing problems for the wildlife.

The population of wintering birds has dwindled in the last few years as the mud slowly covers up their food supply, which includes marine plants, he said. As water is displaced by dirt, fish are deprived of their sanctuary, and their numbers have gradually declined. This in turn strips birds of an additional food source, he added.

“It is a fuel stop for birds going to Central and South America,” said John Scholl, who oversees Upper Newport Bay for the California Department of Fish and Game. “The siltation is a very serious threat to the habitat for the birds. If we take away one of their fuel stops, they are in trouble.”

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It has been 10 years since the bay was dredged. Since that time, the state has not come through with the money it takes to restore the watery environment, officials said.

The muddying of the bay occurs naturally when silt, clay and sand carried by San Diego Creek fans out across the bottom of the bay where the two bodies of water meet.

The rapid urbanization of places like Tustin and Irvine has speeded the silt problem in the bay. The watering of greenbelts, golf courses and lawns also increases runoff of water and dirt into the San Diego Creek, which then flows into the bay.

The situation is particularly worrisome in winter, when heavy rains dump above-average amounts of the muck into the bay’s still waters.

“Basically, land is being formed in the bay,” said Larry Paul, Orange County’s manager of coastal facilities. “It will go from bay to wetlands to grasslands,” he said.

It became obvious about three years ago that the bay needed to be cleaned. But the state--which has responsibility for the bay--has not come forward with the roughly $5 million it costs to get the job done, officials said.

In spite of an unusual alliance between environmentalists and homeowners that has developed over the dredging of the bay, their pleas for funds have mostly fallen on deaf ears in Sacramento. City and county officials who responded to the call to pressure the state for help have also had little luck.

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The waiting game has begun again this year. Gov. Pete Wilson has earmarked more than $5 million in this year’s budget for Upper Newport Bay.

If the state budget is adopted as proposed, work can begin in August. If the dredging money is cut out, as it has been in the past, the city and county will have to begin looking elsewhere for funds.

But county and city officials expect the seriousness of the situation to win them favor with the state.

“We feel confident it will happen this year,” said the county’s Paul.

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Bay Watch

Uppermost bay would be dredged first.