Posted on June 21, 2016
By Clayton Stairs, SouthStrand News
Officials planning the Murrells Inlet dredging project, set to begin in September, have decided on an alternative method of disposing spoils material.
Georgetown County Administrator Sel Hemingway said although the original plan was to construct a spoils site for material that is not appropriate for placing on local beaches, after recent discussions with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the plan is now to use a mechanical de-watering process.
“The material that is not clean sand would be pumped to a facility that would de-water it using a belt press,” Hemingway said. “The water is returned to the Inlet and the material is processed and trucked away without the need for constructing an impoundment.”
Murrells Inlet dredging, one of five projects slated for the 1-cent capital projects sales tax funds being collected until April 30, 2019, will cost an estimated 10.3 million. It is necessary to halt silting of the channel leading into the Inlet, Hemingway said.
He said the project will also offer restaurants and businesses along the waterfront, in the Marsh Walk area, a chance to participate in the dredging process. “We have been meeting with property owners and restaurant owners to prepare for that portion of the project,” Hemingway said.
He said bids will go out for the project in July.
“Assuming the bids come in within budget, work could begin in September,” Hemingway said. “We are pleased that we anticipate the project coming in within budget, and also being able to be done in the time frame proposed.”
Source: South Strand News
