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Dredging to finally start

Work expected to begin later this month to clear more than a decade of silt build up
dredge
Silt build up has made some secondary channels of the Fraser River impossible to navigate at low tide.

After years of lobbying every level of government, the Ladner Sediment Group could soon see all that work pay off.

With one of the needed permits already issued and two others expected next week, some of the secondary channels of the Fraser River could see dredgers in action before the end of the month.

"We've got the green light for Ladner Harbour and hopefully they're going to have the rest of the paperwork in place in the next couple of weeks," said John Roscoe, chair of the Ladner Sediment Group.

"That's really good news and really exciting."

The federal government handled the dredging of the Fraser until 1998. In 1999, the port authority took over dredging the main navigational channel only, which has resulted in silt building up in the many secondary channels.

The Ladner Sediment Group has been working since 2009 to get some of the secondary channels dredged while silt continued to pile up, wreaking havoc on float homes and making some of the channels impassable at low tide.

In late 2012, the group finally hit pay dirt with the announcement of a $10-million dredging project in Ladner and Steveston.

A collaboration between Port Metro Vancouver, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the B.C.

Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, the Corporation of Delta and the City of Richmond, the project is also supposed to include funds for maintenance dredging for up to the next 10 years.

Environment Canada just issued the dredging permit for Ladner Harbour, and the permits for Deas Slough and Sea Reach are expected by next week.

According to a report this week from Corporation of Delta staff, the work is expected to start at the end of January with Cannery Channel in Richmond, Sea Reach and Deas Slough. That work is expected to continue until the end of March. It will resume after the fisheries closure, likely at the end of August.

Phase two of the work will continue in the fall and winter with an expectation that everything will be completed by spring 2015.