HomeMy WebLinkAbout08 - Newport Harbor Sediment AnalysisITEM 8
TO: Members of the Newport Beach City Council
FROM: Tony Melum, Division of Harbor Resources
SUBJECT: Amendment to Professional Services Agreement
with MEC Analytical Systems, Inc.
RECOMMENDATION:
Approve an amendment to Professional Services Agreement with MEC
Analytical Systems, Inc. for $23,241.00.
BACKGROUND:
Since 1979, the City has had a Maintenance Dredging Permit ( "General Permit ")
with both the California Coastal Commission (CCC) and the Army Corps of
Engineers (COE). The General Permit allows commercial and residential harbor
permittees to do small dredging projects (500 to 1,000 cubic yards) without the
need for individual permits from the CCC or the COE, which in the past were
time consuming and costly.
The General Permits were historically granted for ten -year periods. The most
recent permit was approved in August of 2000 for five years. When the COE
granted the 2000 General Permit, it excluded four areas of the harbor from the
permit (see Exhibit A) based on input from the US Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA). The EPA has input on the issuance of COE permits since the
Federal Clean Water Act authorizes the EPA to establish regulations and criteria
for dredging sediment disposal.
EPA indicated that after additional testing, depending on the results, those areas
excluded might be brought back into the general permit.
To resolve this issue the City prepared a Sample and Analysis Plan and went out
to a Request for Proposals (RFP) to find a consultant who could perform the
necessary testing. MEC Analytical Systems, Inc. was chosen for this project at a
cost of $99,710.00 and work began in November of 2000.
MEC's original scope of work included additional testing at the four excluded
sites. Sediments would be collected from five locations at each of the sites and
homogenized separately to generate a composite sample for analysis. A single
Newport Beach City Council
composite would be prepared for each of the four sites and chemistry results
from the samples will be used to determine the need for bio- assay/ bio -
accumulation testing.
Generally, the bio -assay process incorporates replicated testing of three bottom
living and burrowing species in direct contact with the proposed dredged
sediments. The settling of ocean disposed dredged sediments is simulated by
placing the dredged sediments over sediments collected from the proposed
ocean disposal site, in our case a site known as "LA -3" located four miles off the
entrance to Newport Harbor. Controls include evaluation of pristine sediments
and sediments already at the ocean disposal site.
Included in this study is an assessment of bio- accumulation potential usually
using a species of clam. Heavy metal and pesticide concentrations in the
organism s tissues from each of the test conditions are compared to evaluate
potential uptake of these toxic materials by the organisms living in the ocean
disposal site sediments. Once statistical analysis is performed on these tests, a
report is prepared and it is submitted to the EPA and COE for their review
relative to the excluded area.
During MEC's execution of the project, US EPA revised the scope of the work as
follows:
1. EPA requested three additional cores.
2. EPA requested bulk chemistry on individual cores when bio -assay results
warrant it, in addition to composite samples.
These tests on individual cores will allow EPA to exclude any areas that are not
suitable for ocean disposal or beach replenishment from the final permit, while
still issuing a permit for other areas.
Our consultant estimates that the additional work could cost $23, 241.00,
although the final cost may be less. The consultant advises that the testing
results will be available in report form on March 12, 2001. We can then return to
the Coastal Commission and to the Corps of Engineers to bring the now -
excluded areas back into the Dredging Permit.
Newport Beach City Council
Exhibit A
Physical and Chemic °I Sediment 7estino - Newport Harbor, 1999
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