The Rhine Channel has been the industrial mecca of Newport Bay since the 1920s. In 1998, the State Water Quality Control Board designated this area as one of Orange County 's hot spots for toxic sediment. In June of 2004, Orange County Coastkeeper embarked on an in-depth study of the Rhine Channel, located on the western end of Lower Newport Bay. With $346,000 in funding from the State (Proposition 13 funds) and the City of Newport Beach, Coastkeeper conducted a project to fully determine the types of pollutants in the channel both above and below the surface. The ultimate purpose of this study was to provide data needed to initiate the cleanup operation of the Rhine Channel.
Over the years, industries such as canneries, metal plating companies and shipyards have operated on or near the channel. These operations have left the Rhine Channel a legacy of pollution. In April of 2004, the Orange County Health Care Agency warned that some fish in the Newport Bay shouldn't be eaten because they contain pollutants, including PCB. One of the people most excited for the study to get underway is Jack Skinner, a Newport Beach internal medicine specialist who has followed water-quality issues for the past 20 years. Skinner believes that cleaning up the Rhine Channel could help reduce the contamination levels of fish throughout Bay.
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| Newport Beach Rhine Channel |
The first part of this project accurately mapped out the bottom of the channel, and located any large debris that had been dumped into the channel over the years. While no cars or other huge objects were found, there was a substantial amount of debris in the channel. The second step of the project involved collecting core samples from sixteen representative sites, which were selected to characterize the contamination in the channel. The core samples contained sediment dating back to the 1930s, the time of the channel's original dredging. After we logged and photographed the multiple samples taken from each core, they were sent to a state certified lab for analysis. The lab analysis looked for evidence of contaminants such as metals, pesticides, and PCB along with many other pollutants.
The lab results confirmed our expectation that the channel is in fact contaminated. Most of the pollution consisted of copper, mercury, PAHs. Over the years, items such as old paint cans and even sunken boats have ended up in the channel; and at one point a transformer accident spilled polychlorinated biphenyls, commonly called PCBs into the channel. While we found the most severe contamination near stormdrains, our tests confirmed that pollution was present throughout the channel.
In third stage of the project, we worked to identify ways that the contaminated sediment could be cleaned up. Remediation alternatives were developed by Anchor Environmental, a consulting firm that assisted Coastkeeper with the core sampling. The possible solutions include removing the sediment and disposing of it at a landfill, burying it in the harbor in a capped hole, or creating containment areas along the harbor shore. During the next month, the draft plan will be finalized; and public meetings will be held to explain in detail the chemical analysis results and the remediation plans.
This project is intended to provide the information necessary for the cleanup of the Rhine Channel. While several studies have documented contamination in the channel, Coastkeeper's study is the first to fully identify the spatial extent of the contamination, and to specify cleanup options and costs. It is imperative that we start the cleanup project soon, as other studies point to the Rhine Channel as a contamination source for fish throughout the Bay. The only way we can successfully clean up the Rhine channel is with the support of the community at large. Orange County Coastkeeper invites the public to take a close look at the study and the cleanup alternatives, and help us work to clean up the Rhine Channel.
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