From the May 10, 2000 Edition
From the May 10, 2000 Edition
Dredging work gets underway
By Scott Woodhouse Express Staff
Dredging work has started in
Meaford Harbour in a bid to gain enough depth so that larger boats can
navigate the silt-filled channel.
Work started Monday as several different companies involved in the project
worked together to set up the system that will pump mud dug from the rivermouth
across the harbour parking lot, into a holding pond on the east side of
the Coast Guard buildings.
On Tuesday morning, local welder Phil Shortt was working with the pump
contractor Dean Construction attaching the huge pump and strainer to a
barge.
Dave Richardson was operating his company's crane, loading equipment onto
the barge, while volunteers from the East Grey Hunters and Anglers worked
laying the black pipe across the harbour parking lot.
"It's a real joint effort," said Mike Rowbotham, who had already
parked his back hoe on the barge and was helping Richardson load other
equipment onto the floating dredge.
The dredging work is being spearheaded by the East Grey Hunters and Anglers
in conjunction with all three levels of government.
Dave Mather, who has been the driving force behind the plan, said the initial
plan is to create a channel from the mouth of the harbour into the area
that had been previously dredged.
"Right now we have about four feet of water in that area and we hope
to make it eight to ten feet deep," he said Tuesday morning in a telephone
interview.
"Depending upon the amount of funding we end up with we will keep
going until we run out of money," he said, adding that all three levels
of government - municipal, provincial, and federal - were making money
available for emergency dredging in the Great Lakes basin.
Herb Dhaliwal, the federal Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, announced
this week the Government of Canada has offered to contribute on a cost-shared
basis, emergency funding to help dredge marinas most severely affected
by current low water levels in the Great Lakes.
Dhaliwal called on provincial Minister of Natural Resources John Snobelen
to explore partnering opportunities with the feds and the Ontario Marine
Operators Association.
The funding arrangements are still being negotiated, but the work is being
started in order to open up the harbour before the boating season is in
full swing.
"The job is aimed at getting the harbour open," said Mather.
"Right now it's closed simply because of a lack of water."
The way things are right now, Richardson's Boat Works cannot launch some
of the deeper draught boats that it stores and services.
Mather added that Meaford is lucky, in a way. The harbour was originally
27 feet deep. The sediment that is in the channel now, can easily be dredged,
whereas some other harbours, with rock bottoms on the other side of the
bay, would have to blast in order to accommodate some of the bigger boats.
"We're looking at an opportunity. Over near Midland they have a hard
bottom and simply cannot dredge," said Mather.
"There are several opportunities to attract new boats and economic
activity related to boating if we can provide a deeper harbour," he
said.
The project is also giving "two bangs for one buck" added Mather.
The material dredged from the harbour will be pumped into holding berms
and then used to create a new beach on the east side of the coast guard
faciltity.The dredging plan is similar, but different, to a previous attempt
to pump sediment from the harbour. A plan to pump sediment from the bottom
almost 10 years ago ended in failure, but the system being used this time
around has a proven track record.
The pumps, rented from Dean Construction of LaSalle, are extremely powerful.
The sediment is dug from the bottom using a hi-hoe and placed in a "grizzly"
or giant strainer, where the first pump, pumping 65,000 gallons per hour,
blasts the sediment and breaks it up into smaller pieces. Then the second
pump operating at 240,000 gallons per hour, pumps the watery mud through
the pipe to the dewatering berms on the other side of the harbour.
