Breakwater study to start soon

There may not be any federal money in the pipeline for an Army Corps of Engineers review this year, but a city-funded study on reconfiguring the Long Beach Breakwater will still get underway this fall.

City Councilman Patrick O'Donnell told me this week that consulting firm Moffatt & Nichol will begin public hearings on its reconnaissance study of the breakwater in September or October. The council approved a $100,000 contract with the firm to conduct the study in June.

Advocates of reconfiguring the breakwater -- such as Long Beach Surfrider Foundation -- say removing parts of or lowering the 2.5-mile eastern end of the rock barrier could improve water quality by allowing polluted runoff waters to escape. Opponents say the breakwater protects homes along the coastline and that taking it down could damage or destroy their property.

According to a reconnaissance study timeline provided by O'Donnell, the council could be getting a presentation on the study by May.

But until Congress approves money for the Corps of Engineers to review the city's study, changes to the breakwater will remain just a controversial idea, Even if funding gets approved next year, the Corps would have to agree with the study, conduct its own feasibility study, and then possibly move forward with any changes to the breakwater.

Just like waves lose their momentum against the breakwater, proponents of reconfiguring it are being stymied by the breakwater of government bureaucracy. We'll wait and see whether either one can be taken down.