Streambed Alteration Agreement (SAA#6-2003-059) for Santa Ana River

Streambed Alteration Agreement (SAA#6-2003-059) for Santa Ana River

The Operator proposes to alter the stream channel to continue on-going maintenance activities involving sand sediment removal from the Santa Ana River, where the River Road Bridge crosses the Santa Ana River, in order to protect the bridge. Sand and sediment removal will be removed from a 700 foot-wide stretch of the river extending from 700 feet downstream of the bridge to 1000 feet upstream of the bridge. The project footprint includes all excavation, stockpiling and staging areas. The total impact area is 33 acres. No impacts will occur to riparian vegetation. The excavation area is maintained by sand berms that divert river flows into a pilot channel that conveys the water under the bridge and to the Orange County Water District's levee just downstream of the project area. The excavation area is divided by internal berms to create basins that can be mined separately. Heavy machinery is used to remove sand up to a depth of 13 feet within each basin, and to create and maintain berms. The basins may be divided into two or more sub basins. The basins are configured depending on the quantity of remaining sand and the presence of Santa Ana suckers in the area. Mined sand is stockpiled, screened and loaded onto trucks from staging areas on the north bank of the river, east and west of the bridge. Fifty truckloads per day is the maximum amount of sand hauled from the site.

Riverside