In 2010 or 2011, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers expects to receive budget approval to dredge 600,000 cubic yards of silt and clay from Portland’s 35-foot Federal Channel. In anticipation a group of harbor wharf owners hope to coordinate their dredge crisis with the scoop-and-dump plans of the federal government.
The amount of contaminated sludge piling up between the wharves of Portland Harbor has been haphazardly dredged in the past. Always considered apart and separate from the federal government’s commitment to keeping the Federal Channel clear, Portland Harbor is primarily private property. For example, Charles Poole, owner of Union Wharf, says his property is surrounded by 4,000 to 6,000 cubic yards of contaminated silt, sand, sewage and sludge that has to be removed for the wharf to be fully functional.
The overall situation in the harbor is now dire. “At low tide there is only three feet of water depth in some locations, so if you turn an engine, the propellers stir the mud like an egg beater,” describes Poole. “At low tide, boats coming into berths are stirring up toxic material into the harbor every day.”
A variety of factors have contributed to the built-up silt and sludge. In a heavy rain, sewer and silt material flows from all surrounding hills down into Casco Bay. Over time, the simple act of water lapping against the banks of the harbor creates silt, says Dick Ingalls, chairman of the Portland Dredge Committee.
Materials migrate from unregulated and contaminated areas, like the Fore River. Dredging around the harbor would minimize the existing load of pathogens, toxic material, nutrients and sediments from storm water and combined sewer overflow, says Poole.
Now the conundrum being wrestled to resolution is this: if dredged, where will all this material be taken for disposal? “If levels of organics and metals are so high that they cannot go upland and cannot go to deep sea water,” cautions Marcia Bowen, vice president of Normandeau Associates, retained by the wharf owners to test the waters surrounding their property. Much of the sludge surround Portland’s wharves have such high levels of contaminants and therefore have nowhere to go.
Normandeau not only tests what material clients hope to dredge, they also send it to a lab for detailed study. Then Normandeau works with clients to find an appropriate solution. Nothing moves, for example, without the approval of both the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the state Department of Environmental Protection. Normandeau Associates have helped many owners of Portland wharves reach the only solution currently available to them after they dredge their contaminated silt: build a CAD, also known as a “confined aquatic disposal” (CAD) cell.
“If we are going to have a working port, dredging is mandatory,” asserts Union Wharf owner Poole.
Portland’s federal dump site, where “clean material” will go is currently at the curve of the peninsula, approximately 7.1 miles due east of Cape Elizabeth, according to Tom Meyers, waterfront and transportation director for South Portland. The CAD cell is planned to be located inside the harbor at the eastern edge in an old abandoned channel area-a site already approved by the army corps.
Larger than a football field, at 220 feet across, 480 feet long and 60 feet deep, the area of the cell would remain stationary on all sides due to inherent, intense water pressure, which also would keep dredged material from floating out of the cell. Freshly dredged material could be added to the CAD whenever necessary for years to come. “We know the science and it works,” says Dick Ingalls.
CAD, while relatively new technology, has been proven a successful, common tool for dredged material management in many areas of the United States and, particularly, in New England. CAD cells have recently been created in New Bedford, Boston Harbor and Hyannis, Massachusetts, the Thames River and Norwalk in Connecticut and Providence, Rhode Island. A CAD cell was also created in Newark Bay in New Jersey that has been used for moderately contaminated dredged material from the ports of New York and New Jersey.
If successfully timed to be built when the Army Corps of Engineers dredges the Portland Harbor, the Waterfront Alliance’s Dredge Committee estimates the cost to construct the CAD to run between $5 million and $8 million. Unfortunately, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, according to Bowen, is not motivated to open a CAD cell. “It’s not a priority for them,” she says.
The Portland Dredge Committee recently visited the Maine offices of Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), hat in hand. “They understood, but offered no commitment,” admits Tom Meyers, director of transportation for South Portland. “We have to get more organized and put this together with charts and graphs.”
Pier owners need to find their own funds for the project, but the hope is that state and federal monies will be found for the actual dredging around private property.
Meanwhile, Jack Karalius, project manager for the U.S. Corps of Engineers, New England District, isn’t even certain when his team will come to dredge Portland’s main channel. “It didn’t make the most recent presidential budget,” says Karalius, noting that the last time Portland was dredged was over 10 years ago, in 1998. “Right now there are no funds for dredging the Portland Disposal Site.”
Skepticism aside, hope runs high that there will be federal funding for the 35-foot channel in either 2010 or 2011, during the time of year that will minimize impacts to marine fish and shellfish, generally November 1 to April 15. “It’s also a matter of coordinating various departments,” says Karalius, “including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Fishery and Wildlife Department and the Marine and Fishery Services.”
Meanwhile, Portland Harbor wharf owners struggle, appealing to both the private and public sectors to raise enough money for a CAD. “The time has come to say ‘Are we going to let these piers deteriorate to the point where they won’t be salvaged-or not?'” says Poole.