Posted on June 11, 2019
CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) – A multimillion dollar dredging project is underway on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway from Georgetown to Charleston.
The Army Corps of Engineer aims to remove 50,000 dump trucks worth of silt material from the Breach Inlet area of the waterway during this current dredge project.
The project manager overseeing this said removing that dredge material is necessary.
“As the Army Corps of Engineers are responsible for maintaining the Atlantic intracoastal waterway,” Jeremy Johnson said. Johnson is the Army Corps of Engineers Project Manager for the Charleston District. “Dredging is part of that maintenance to allow for safe and efficient transit of commercial and recreational users.”
Johnson said they aim to deepen the waterway so the water isn’t below 12 feet at low tide.
“We definitely see cargo ships not like the ones we see in the harbor,” Johnson said. “But there are barges smaller cargo ships that deliver material.”
To dredge the waterway, Johnson explained that the silt and sand material is dredged out of the waterway and pumped onto a dredge deposit site. That site fills up with water and through a pipe that water is filtered out and the dredge material stays. Over time that material builds up and dries. Once it is completely dry, about a year later, they can excavate the area and prepare to put more dredge material on the site.
Johnson said they aim to dredge as often as they can, especially after a hurricane. The corps used $9.4 million in hurricane relief money for this latest dredge project.
“We haven’t seen dredging to this magnitude on the waterway in over 10 years since our funding came out,” Johnson said. “Whenever we’re able to get congressional funding, we try to execute as quickly as possible. “
The Breach Inlet area of the project is expected to be finished by the end of June but Johnson said the overall project is expected to be done by the end of 2019.
Source: live5news.com
