Posted on June 27, 2016
By Jim Shay, ctpost
Low water depths in the Housatonic River in Stratford and Milford has prompted the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to call dredging.
The proposed work involves removal of up to 300,000 cubic yards of sandy material from portions of the 18-foot main channel. The work would be from the mouth of the Housatonic at Long Island Sound to about five miles upriver.
The dredging is needed, the Corps says, because more than 1,000 vessels travel on the river, including about 15 commercial vessels. There are also marina and yacht clubs along both sides of the Housatonic River. In Stratford there are seven marinas with a total of 714 slips available, Milford has three marina and 246 slips and Shelton also has three marinas with 188 slips. There are 87 harbor moorings and 18 resident ial docks along the river, according to Corps documents.
“Natural shoaling processes and storm events have reduced available depths in the lower sections of the Housatonic River. The 18-foot-deep authorized channel has numerous areas that have shoaled above the -18 foot mean lower low water plane,” said Project Manager Jack Karalius, of the Corps’ New England District, Programs and Project Management Division in Concord, Mass. “Some areas have shoaled to as shallow as -5 feet mean lower low water.”
The dredged Housatonic sand would be transported and pumped directly onto Hammonasset Beach State Park in Madison to “renourish” the eroding beach that has been hard hit by tropical storms Irene and Sandy. On a barge off Hammonasset, the dredged sand would be mixed with seawater. The slurry of sand and water would then be pumped through a pipeline to the beach. The dredged material, the Corps says, “has undergone physical and chemical analysis and based on this data and the lack of potential sources of contamination the material has been found suitable for placement on Hammonasset Beach.”
The proposed work will be performed over an approximately three- to four-month period between Oct. 1 and Jan. 31 for shoals inside Milford Point, and between Oct. 1 and Feb. 28 for shoals seaward of Milford Point. Exactly what year the dredging will occur remains uncertain, the Corps said. “The work would be done in the year in which funds become available and necessary approvals are received.”
The 200-foot wide federal navigation channel needs to have an 18-foot deep from the mouth of the river to the lower end of Culvers Bar (approximately five miles distance). “Maintenance dredging will be required in order to restore most of the authorized depth and width of the channel,” to make it usable for safe navigation, the Corp says. The federal goverment authorized a channel that wide and that deep starting in 1871.
The last dredging of the Housatonic was in November 2012 when the Corps’ dredge Currituck removed abot 50,000 yards of shoal material. It was and deposited in Long Island Sound off of Point No Point, the area past the Stratford seawall. The Currituck is now working in Milford Harbor removing 14,000 cubic feet of material.
The public notice with more details is online at: www.nae.usace.army.mil/Missions/PublicNotices.aspx.
Public comments on this proposed work should be forwarded no later than July 14, 2016 to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District, Programs and Project Management Division (ATTN: Mr. Jack Karalius), 696 Virginia Road, Concord, MA 01742-2751 or by email to nae-pn-nav@usace.army.mil.
Source: ctpost
