Coastal sewer tunnel project begins

A $2 million emergency sewer tunnel refurbishing project near 1000 Steps Beach in South Laguna will begin in earnest next week, according to Linda Homscheid of the South Coast Water District.

“We anticipate that the work site preparation will continue through the end of this week, with actual repairs on the tunnel entry beginning next week,” Homscheid said. The project is expected to take more than four months to complete.

Since Jan. 8, when work site preparation began, a temporary fenced-in staging area has been constructed near the entry to the tunnel and a temporary earthen ramp has been built from the tunnel entry down to the sand below the bluff to facilitate workers and equipment going in and out via a utility boat that will land on the shore, she said.

“The first leg of the repair work will be to enlarge and fortify the tunnel opening and to fortify a 35-foot interior passageway that leads to the tunnel, which contains the sewer line,” Homscheid said.

The first part of the project will take one to two weeks to accomplish. This will consist of improvements to the tunnel entry by enlarging and fortifying the exterior opening and fortifying the interior passageway that links to the sewer tunnel.

The next phase, lasting one to two weeks, will protect the sewer line near the entry by encasing 50 feet of it in concrete, and remove and discard loose rocks and rotten timber.

Next, the tunnel near the entry will be enlarged and fortified, by excavating 50 feet, to form a stable horseshoe, lined with sprayed-on concrete (known as shotcrete), a process that is expected to take one month.

Following this, the balance of the sewer line will be protected by encasing 750 feet of pipeline in concrete, a one-month job.

For more information, call the Water District at (949) 499-4555 or visit www.scwd.org.