Dredging project will give boats room to maneuver in basin of Plymouth Harbor – Wicked Local

Plymouth Long Beach September 2016

Tranquil Plymouth Long Beach September 2016

Wicked Local

PLYMOUTH Plymouths innermost harbor is getting a long-awaited cleansing.

The inner basin, that small, but highly visible section of water between Water Street and Town Wharf, is one of the busiest parts of the harbor. Its docks are home to charter fishing boats, whale watch vessels, fishermen and the harbormaster, but, for decades now, it has slowly been filling with sediment.

At low tide, vast sections are exposed as flats, leaving some boats touching ground.

The town has been trying to dredge the basin for many years. But decades ago, a dangerous chemical settled there.

The town will never know for sure, but officials suspect that someone dumped the pesticide DDT into a storm drain that empties into the harbor.

The pesticide washed into the basin and, years ago, hot spots were identified in sediment samples.

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Its presence changed the way the town could approach dredging. The sediment could not simply be scooped up and dumped out at sea.

It must be taken to an inland facility and treated in a way that makes it safe for disposal in a landfill.

The discovery of the pesticide added tremendously to the cost of proposed dredging operations and delayed removal of the material. But with help from the state, the town finally is clearing it out.

Town Meeting approved $1.3 million for the project last spring. The states executive office of Housing and Economic Development awarded a $1.3 million grant for the work as well.

AGM Marine Contractors Inc. of New Bedford has contracted to do the work. AGM completed the most recent dredging around other side of Town Wharf and, in addition to experience with the harbor, has dredges and barges that can fit into tight spaces if needed. And they are.

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The project is small in comparison to other work in the harbor.

It will remove 6,000 cubic yards of material and ship it to a treatment plant in New Jersey, where it will be disposed of in a landfill after treatment.

The work is 1/50 of the size of the federally funded dredging project that cleared the harbor channel and and mooring field over the last few years. That project took 300,000 cubic yards of material.

Harbormaster Chad Hunter said AGM started dredging the basin Jan. 3 and has a permit to continue the work through January. The project should only require about seven days of actual dredging, but weather could be a factor in the timing.

The work will have a profound impact on the inner basin, which was last dredged nearly 60 years ago.

The dredging operation will dig out the basin to minus 8 feet. By comparison, the harbors main channel was recently dredged to minus 15 feet. Hunter said the inner basin had been at minus 4 feet, but was completely shoaled in some areas and appeared as mudflats at low tide.

This will basically restore the area to the way it once was, he said, explaining that work will protect usage of the basin and give boats space to maneuver.

The harbormaster cleared all boats from the area for the month to give workers room to dredge.

It is one of two dredging operations in the harbor this winter. A private dredging operation is also underway at the marina at the mouth of Town Brook.

A separate public project, also funded by a state grant, is restoring a section of Town Wharf this winter too.

The $1 million state Seaport Economic Council grant is funding the reconstruction of the bulkhead, timber pier construction and boardwalk on the section of the wharf between the Lobster Hut and Woods Seafood. The project will encase the existing bulkhead in concrete and add lighting to the new stretch of boardwalk.

The bulkhead was built in 1959 or 1960 and has never been repaired. The state grant required the town to contribute $331,000 toward the project. The town has contracted with New England Building and Bridge Co. for the work.

Hunter said the contractor plans to replace pilings in the next two weeks and expects to finish the project this spring.

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Dredging project will give boats room to maneuver in basin of Plymouth Harbor - Wicked Local