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Delta seeks dredging money

Mayor hoping feds will address situation in secondary channels
dredging
After some upcoming maintenance dredging, there will be no money left to deal with sediment build up in the secondary channels.

They're hoping the new federal government will seriously consider solving the local dredging dilemma, says Mayor Lois Jackson.

Jackson was part of a delegation that recently went to Ottawa to meet federal officials to discuss several issues of concern to Delta, including the need for a sustainable dredging program for the lower Fraser River secondary channels.

"I think the bottom line is, yes, we do need to have ongoing dredging and it has to be sustainable over the next many years. Of course, we bought to their attention, again, that the St. Lawrence Seaway, even though they don't dredge, they certainly need a tremendous amount of money for ice breaking and it eats up about 80 per cent of the budget... we're just looking for some equity here.

"We have a huge economic investment in the Fraser River for fishing and industry and all kinds of things. We simply have to convince the federal government it's their jurisdiction and we need them to take care of the side channels so they don't silt in. We made our pitch to several people in Ottawa."

Dredging of all channels had been a federal responsibility until 1999 when the port authority took over dredging, but only the main navigational channel was maintained. That meant silt accumulated in the secondary channels.

The volunteer Ladner Sediment Group lobbied for years to rectify that situation and in late 2012 the group finally saw some success with the announcement of a $10-million project to dredge the channels in Ladner and Steveston. The program was completed in February 2015.

There's $1.5 million remaining that will be allocated for future dredging maintenance, but that will be all the dredging that gets done unless new money somehow becomes available.

Jackson said even before the funding that's now almost gone was granted, Delta had been seeking a pool of money to be set aside whereby the interest could be used for maintenance dredging.

A Delta staff report last fall noted: "The river continues to deposit sediment each year and, without regular maintenance and dredging, the channels will continue to fill in and will eventually reach a critical point when a major dredging effort will once again be required."

Delta signed on earlier this year to a new group spearheaded by the Ladner Sediment Group aimed at the development of a management plan for the lower Fraser River.