The following is an email update from the US Army Corps of Engineers Project Manager regarding the Broad Bay Channel Dredging.

It is my understanding that the material being dredged from Broad Bay Channel with placement in Maple St. is beach quality sand. Historical maintenance dredging from Broad Bay Channel has been beach quality sand and based on recent site visits I have no reason to believe otherwise. I was out at the site last week and the material looked great for use as emergency sand on the Bayfront. A couple of pictures are attached for reference of the sand that is being stockpiled there currently.

The water in the site may look cloudy which may cause confusion and create the appearance of a lack of beach quality sand. This is just attributed to the slurry mixture of material that is created during the dredging operations. The sandy material settles out of the slurry leaving the quality sand in the site while the effluent water exits the site. We have been testing the effluent water while the Contractor has been working in Maple St. Tests have shown that the Contractor is within the effluent State water quality threshold requirements. The Contractor is currently letting the site dewater and will begin pumping into Maple St. again later this week as they continue dredging in Broad Bay Channel on the west side of the Bay Island/Great Neck Bridges.

Please let me know if you have further questions.

Regards,
Chris

Christopher B. Tolson
Design Section, Operations Branch
Norfolk District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Office: (757) 201-7012