Dredging may aid in coastal restoration

Dredging the Atchafalaya River can help restore Louisiana’s coast. Officials just have to figure out a way to get the fertile river sand to where it’s needed.
Morgan City Harbor and Terminal District commissioners met Monday at the Port of Morgan City’s Government Emergency Operations Center.
The dredge that’s been in the Morgan City harbor the past few months should finish dredging Berwick Bay sometime this week, said Tim Connell, Atchafalaya region manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The sand dredged out of the bay “could have made all kinds of islands, and we did zero,” Port Director Raymond “Mac” Wade said.
“That’s hundreds of thousands of yards of material that’s being thrown away. The only problem is, we will get a chance to see it again,” Wade said, referring to the sand that will eventually build up again on the Morgan City side of the river.
Officials dredge the river in order to allow vessels to pass through.
Nearly 1 million cubic yards of fertile river sand was pumped back into the middle of the river at Berwick Bay, Twenty Grand Point and Tidewater Point, Wade said.
Port leaders have already shown that the river sand can quickly create lush islands.
A few months ago, officials dredged a roughly mile-long, 500,000-cubic yard “plug” of sand in the Atchafalaya River about 10 miles from Morgan City.
Several islands were created in the Atchafalaya River by using the fertile sand dredged out of the Atchafalaya River, Wade said.
“We’ve got the best material in the country, and every bit of it needs to be utilized,” Wade said.
The islands are full of vegetation and birds. Removing the sand plug also helped allow flood waters to flow out to the Gulf of Mexico, he said.
Port officials are working closely with the Corps and other agencies to find a way to pay to move the dredged sediment to assist in coastal restoration, Wade said.
Also during the meeting, officials discussed the port’s dredging demonstration project in the Atchafalaya River Bar Channel, which should finish by Aug. 14, Connell said. The demonstration started in early June.
Officials have gotten the depth to 19.5 feet in the channel’s upper reaches and 15.5 feet in the lower part, Connell said. Officials dredged a total of 12 miles of the roughly 20-mile long channel. It’s located about 20 miles south of Morgan City.
The channel is congressionally authorized to be 20 feet deep, but mud accumulates in the channel, making navigation difficult or impossible for some vessels. The mud’s makeup isn’t conducive to create new land, though, Wade said.
“There’s clearly been some gain in the depth of the channel from what we’ve done,” Connell said.
The cutter-head dredge that port officials have previously used to dredge the Bar Channel cost $110,000 per day compared to the demonstration using a hopper dredge costing $45,000 per day.
Wade hopes officials can drop the dredging cost below $45,000 per day because the port and Corps can’t afford that cost all year. Port leaders are meeting with all its stakeholders in an attempt to come up with additional funding, Wade said.
Port Economic Development Manager Cindy Cutrera encouraged area business leaders to testify about the issues they’re having due to lack of water depth at the Corps annual low water inspection meeting to be held at 9 a.m. Aug. 19 at the port’s dock.
In the other business, the commission
—Adopted its 2016-17 fiscal year budget for the year that began July 1. Commissioner Deborah Garber said the budget the district adopted included a net loss. But she didn’t see “any cause for concern” because many expenses in the budget aren’t recurring ones. Also, the port has a sufficient fund balance to cover that net loss, Garber said.
—Approved a cooperative endeavor agreement for the National Weather Service to use the port’s Touch Assisted Command and Control System.
—Approved a lease agreement with the St. Mary Levee District to lease space in the ports’ Government Emergency and Operations Center at a cost of about $2,600 per month.