Posted on June 22, 2017
By Fred Pace, herald-dispatch.com
Dredging at the confluence of the Guyandotte and Ohio rivers began Tuesday near the Guyandotte boat ramp.
“The need for dredging typically arises in the approach areas to the lock and dam projects, as well as several naturally occurring sediment bars, tributary confluences, harbors and boat ramps,” said Chuck Minsker, a public affairs specialist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Huntington.
Minsker said the Guyandotte boat ramp is routinely dredged to remove mud and silt that fill in the area and make it difficult for boats to get onto the rivers. The work this year is being done on a contract basis by Amherst Madison Inc., based in Charleston.
“We dredge that area once every year” after the spring flooding season has ended, he said.
The ramp and the space out from it – an area of 2,500 cubic yards – will be cleared of sediment.
Minsker says two of the Corps of Engineers’ primary missions are to maintain navigation channels and reduce flood impacts along the Inland Marine Transportation System. He said the River and Harbor Act of 1910 mandates the Corps to maintain navigable channel depths on the Ohio River and its tributaries to accommodate transportation demands.
“Maintenance dredging is required at various locations within the Huntington District’s boundaries,” Minsker said. “Occasionally, emergency dredging is required to maintain the navigation channel. Excessive shoaling can occur at many different locations in the river and is generally associated with high water conditions such as flows and sediment load.”
The Corps works closely with the U.S. Coast Guard and the navigation towing industry to maintain a safe, navigable waterway that serves both commercial and recreational needs, Minsker said.
The sediment being dredged is being loaded onto a barge and will be dumped at predetermined sites along the rivers that will not affect the environment or habitat, Minsker added.
Clay Brooks, who lives in the Guyandotte area, says his wife, Bonnie Lawrence, is an avid boater and uses the boat ramp often.
“After the spring flooding, this boat ramp is always covered in mud,” Brooks said. “It makes it nearly impossible to get a boat in the water with all the mud covering the boat ramp.”
Brooks said he was happy the spot was being dredged, but wished it was done earlier in the year.
“I just wish they would do it in the spring instead of waiting until the summer,” he said.
Minsker says the dredging is done as funding for it becomes available.
Source: herald-dispatch.com
