Politics & Government
Sand Replenishment Set to Start in Early 2011
Plans to replenish Imperial Beach sand will begin in February. The City Council received an analysis of sand from the U.S. Coast Guard collected last January which found cadmium, lead, mercury and other metals but overall declared the sand fit for use.
Starting in February, the U.S. Coast Guard will move about 33,000 cubic yards of sand from the southern end of Point Loma below a Naval Submarine Base and dump it just south of the Imperial Beach Pier to clear space in the San Diego Harbor's entry channel and replenish IB sands.
The City Council approved the plans at its Dec. 15 meeting after discussing potential safety hazards and a debris management plan.
A clamshell dredge will move the sand and a 12-by-12-inch grate will be used in an attempt to filter out large sediment, said Community Development Director Greg Wade. Divers may also use magnetotromers or metal detectors to recover hazardous materials from the sand.
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"Small metal things that get onto the beach and cut people's feet are what is troubling to me," said Councilman Jim King, whose son cut his foot on a piece of metal while walking on the beach after a dredging project a few years ago.
Post-project beach inspections "aren't good enough," he said. Someone should be on-board the dredging vessel to monitor the sand as it is recovered, King said.
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Extra caution should be taken to safeguard the community and "our heavy reliance on the ability to attract people to our beach," said Councilman Ed Spriggs.
The Army Corps of Engineers was set to begin dredging in October but the project was delayed due to a lack of money. If it does go forward, possibly in 2012, the Army Corps of Engineers project will supply an additional 118,000 to the Imperial Beach shoreline.
Sand from previous maintenance dredges in 2004 and 1994 were also dumped in Imperial Beach.
The Coast Guard routinely conducts dredging at this location, Wade said, and "all of the sand in those previous dredges has been chemically tested and determined to be suitable for beach nourishment and has been placed in the near shore, just south of the IB Pier."
The sand is coming from an "industrialized waterfront" said U.S. Coast Guard representative Amanda Velasquez.
Tests performed by the Coast Guard in January 2010 found concentrations of cadmium, lead, arsenic, mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) exceeded values found in Imperial Beach sand but were still at levels "not likely to be of concern for ocean disposal" and suitable for use, the report said. No pesticides were found in the testing process. The area to be dredged is 95 to 98 percent sand.
Sand quality tests were done according to Environmental Protection Agency standards.
