Posted on March 1, 2018
By Mary Whitfill, The Patriot Ledger
A South River dredging project that has been in the works for years could begin as early as October, town Harbormaster Mike DiMeo said.
Marshfield and Scituate are working to dredge the South River channel from the Sea Street bridge to the Spit where it meets the North River. The channel has not been dredged since 2006, and DiMeo said he hopes project permits will be in place by the fall.
The dredging would be done in four phases, with each taking about 90 days. The area near the Spit would be done first because that is where shoaling is the worst.
The width of the South River entrance is as narrow as 50 feet in places, DiMeo said. Dredging about 20,000 cubic yards of sand and sediment would widen narrow areas to 100 feet, he said.
“Commercial vessels can’t even get into the South River at low tide without going around. It’s a navigational issue,” DiMeo said. “Even our vessels have hit bottom there. …The current is really swift and the navigability of the rivers can be very dynamic.”
To dredge the entire river would cost $3 million to $4 million and involve the removal of roughly 70,000 cubic yards of sediment.
“We’ll dredge as far as we can based on the amount of money we have and the project bids,” DiMeo said. “We know people are eager to see it done, but it really takes a long time to get all the permits and funding and get going. There is no fast track to get dredging permits, unfortunately.”
Marshfield and Scituate have each contributed $25,000 to the permitting and engineering process for the channel dredging. A $50,000 state grant awarded in 2012 is helping to pay for the project. The U.S. Department of the Interior rejected the towns’ federal grant application in 2014, but DiMeo said the towns are working with state Rep. James Cantwell and state Sen. Patrick O’Connor to look for other grants.
A $360,000 hydraulic dredging project removed 10,000 cubic yards of sediment from the river near the Sea Street bridge in 2015. The sediment was used for beach nourishment at Rexhame Beach. The towns looked at using the sediment from the new project for beach nourishment at Humarock in Scituate, but they ultimately decided that it would be dumped offshore.
“The town of Scituate tried to get easements for beach nourishment at Humarock. However, very few residents agreed to putting the sediment on the beach, and Humarock is about 90 percent private” DiMeo said. “Unfortunately, we’ll be forced to take it offshore, which will be the quickest option.”
Source: The Patriot Ledger
