Posted on December 12, 2024
The Grand Canal muck dredging project has stalled for its state-required winter break, to make way for cold manatees who frequent the warmer canal water.
With more than $24 million spent and five years of work done, Brevard County’s premier environmental canal dredging project still has much more muck to remove, county officials say, at a final price tag yet to be determined. Some lagoon advocates have long warned that dredging just skims the surface of the Indian River Lagoon’s deeper ecological ills that will take decades to cure.
What’s happening?
Gator Dredging, of Clearwater, is dredging Grand Canal as a way to prove that removing the rancid organic gunk on the bottom of such canals can clear the water of excess sediment and algae that clouds sunlight from reaching seagrass — vital food and habitat for manatees, fish and other marine life.
Here are the basics of the Grand Canal project and its status, according to Brevard County Natural Resource Management Department:
The project must follow a state-required “manatee-protection window” from Dec. 1 to March 14, during which dredging is prohibited. That doesn’t apply to boat traffic or other activities. So, mobilization and demobilization of pipelines and other equipment is allowed during the manatee protection/dredging closure window.
Based on the amount of muck removed in the completed area exceeding the pre-bid muck volume estimate, the county anticipates a change order to cover the excess material. The county hasn’t received a request yet from Gator Dredging so an update of status/cost is still pending.
This past summer, the Brevard County Commission approved use of the project’s nearby spoil site for several more years to complete muck removal in the unincorporated area. The extension included time to address the extra volume of muck being removed. State grants have been secured for anticipated costs.
Gator Dredging recently worked after sunset one evening and some residents got upset. By ordinance, the dredging company can work until 10 p.m., but typically, and going forward, they will not work more than a half-hour past sunset, officials said.
