Posted on December 12, 2017
By Kurt Bresswein, LehighvalleyLive
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is close to renewing Pennsylvania’s 10-year permit for maintenance work on the Delaware Canal.
Following a public comment period open through Dec. 21, the corps plans to award the permit under the Clean Water Act to the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
Running 60 miles from Easton south to Bristol, Bucks County, the Delaware Canal is the nation’s longest-lived canal, operating for more than a century following its completion in 1832, according to the National Park Service. It is maintained by Delaware Canal State Park, and is part of the Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor.
“When we do this maintenance work it’s to restore the prism of the canal as close as possible to its original design, original depth, original shape,” said Josh Swartley, park manager for the DCNR.
By prism, Swartley is referring to the trapezoidal shape of the canal that is seen when looking at a cross-section of the manmade waterway.
The Army Corps of Engineers permit is open-ended in that it allows park staff to tackle a range of approved maintenance activities on the canal and adjacent tow path for the next decade. The current permit expiring Dec. 31 is the state’s second 10-year, federal permit, said Nate Fronk, biologist for the corps in its Pocono Field Office.
“They’re trying to maintain the historical integrity and functional integrity of the canal,” Fronk said. “It’s very much just a general maintenance permit.”
Under the permit, the scope of maintenance work can include dredging to provide a 5-foot water depth with 3 feet of “freeboard to the top of the towpath,” according to the Army Corps’ notice on the state’s permit application. “The applicant estimates that approximately 250,000 cubic yards of sediment must be removed from the entire length of the canal to maintain the stated design standard.”
All of the sediment dredged by the DCNR is reused within the park, Swartley said. It can be used to rebuild eroded areas then seeded with grass. That eliminates any environmental compliance issues, he said; if it were to be moved off-site, the dredged material would need to be tested for any contaminants.
“In addition, the applicant proposes to repair, rehabilitate, replace and maintain existing canal structures such as walls, channel bed, locks and toe drains in order to restore these structures to their original condition,” the corps’ notice says.
There is no cost estimate attached to the maintenance work, as projects are dealt with as they crop up. As an example of work to be done under the permit, Swartley pointed to an aqueduct replacement and stone wall repair across from Northampton County’s Fry’s Run Park along Route 611 in Williams Township. That work is still being designed but is estimated to cost about $500,000.
This past July, the park wrapped up another maintenance project to stabilize the towpath and aqueduct structure in Tinicum Township, Bucks County. An aqueduct is a bridge structure designed to carry navigable waterway canals.
The Delaware Canal links to the Lehigh Canal at Easton and was used to transport primarily anthracite coal to the markets of Philadelphia and New York City. Coal was used for heating, and its expanded availability was key in conserving dwindling wood resources, according to the National Park Service.
“The introduction of anthracite in place of charcoal in the operation of the iron furnaces stimulated the expansion of iron industries along the Lehigh and Delaware rivers,” the park service says. “During the Delaware Canal’s active existence, approximately 33 million tons of anthracite coal and about 6 million tons of miscellaneous cargoes, including foodstuffs for communities were transported along the canal.”
Along with the work of Delaware Canal State Park, its heritage is also preserved by the National Canal Museum, a program of the Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor, based in the Emrick Technology Center at Hugh Moore Park in Easton.
In addition to its historical significance, the canal is also a recreational amenity, where users can enjoy nature and some of the wildlife that lives in and along the canal and adjacent Delaware River.
Source: LehighvalleyLive
