2 weeks ago
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A contractor experienced in coastal wetlands enhancement recently made a pitch for the long-overdue restoration of the Buena Vista Lagoon on the border of Oceanside and Carlsbad.
“After 20 years of studies and community meetings it’s time to act,” said Jon Ruth of Marathon Construction, a local company that has worked on three other saltwater lagoons in San Diego County. He spoke during a project update at a meeting of the Buena Vista Lagoon Joint Powers Committee.
“It is a hidden national treasure that has been deteriorating over the decades,” Ruth said. “We are looking to inspire support and enthusiasm for restoring the lagoon.”
Marathon Construction completed the San Elijo Lagoon restoration on the border of Encinitas and Solana Beach in 2022, and the San Dieguito Lagoon at Del Mar in 2024. The company also dredged the Batiquitos Lagoon at the border of Carlsbad and Encinitas in the winter of 2023 to maintain a restoration completed there in the mid-1990s.
Each of those projects was similar to the work needed at Buena Vista and included the side benefit of using the sand taken from the lagoons to widen nearby eroded beaches.
The proposed Buena Vista Lagoon project is likely to be larger than the others. It includes the removal of a weir, a low dam near the lagoon’s ocean outlet, that makes Buena Vista the county’s only freshwater lagoon.
The weir prohibits the flow of saltwater into the lagoon and impedes the draining of sedimen...
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