- Map 1
- Map 2
- Map 3
Great Lakes Confined Disposal Facilities
Buffalo River Strategic Navigation Dredging Project Fact Sheet - May 2011
Buffalo River Dredging:
The Federal navigation project at Buffalo Harbor is designed to accommodate commercial navigation. Buffalo Harbor includes a series of authorized Federal navigation channels designed and maintained so that deep-draft commercial vessels can safely navigate the harbor. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, (USACE), Buffalo District maintains Buffalo Harbor and conducts an annual survey of the Federal navigation channels to determine which areas require dredging. Due to funding limitations, only portions of these channels can be dredged about every other year where shoals substantially impede commercial navigation.
A typical operation and maintenance dredging goal in Buffalo Harbor is to maintain the Federal navigation channels in Buffalo River and Ship Canal to an authorized depth of 22 feet below Low Water Datum (LWD). On average, this has resulted in the dredging of approximately 140,000 cubic yards (cy) of sediment every two years. Almost one million cy of sediment have been removed from the harbor over the past 18 years. Nevertheless, reduced funding levels over the past several years have resulted in the accumulation of an estimated 750,000 cy of un-dredged (i.e., “backlog”) material in the harbor’s Federal navigation channels. Material dredged from Buffalo Harbor Federal navigation channels is typically placed in confined disposal facility (CDF) number 4 in the Outer Harbor. This facility was constructed in 1972 mainly for the disposal and containment of sediment dredged from Buffalo Harbor, Black Rock Canal, and Tonawanda Harbor Federal navigation channels. Material dredged by non-USACE entities from other areas is periodically placed in the CDF subject to specific USACE approval.
The USACE, Buffalo District is scheduled to dredge portions of the Federal navigation channels in the Buffalo River and Ship Canal in 2011. Dredging will occur during periods deemed acceptable by State mandated environmental windows to protect periods of sensitivity for aquatic species and migratory waterfowl.
- June 15 through December 30, dredging is permitted in the Buffalo River
- July 1 through December 30, dredging is permitted in the City Ship Canal
- December 30 through July 1, placement of dredge sediment cannot affect land portions of the CDF.
Dredging will generally begin in the upstream reaches of the navigation channel and proceed toward the lake. Approximately 600,000 cubic yards of sediment will be removed from the authorized Federal channel and placed in CDF number 4 adjacent to the south entrance channel (and the former Bethlehem Steel facility). For safety reasons, the public is urged to avoid water-based activity in the vicinity of both dredging and disposal activities.
Of the 600,000 cubic yards of sediment dredged, 150,000 cubic yards is routine operation and maintenance (O&M) dredging funded with Energy and Water Appropriations. Approximately 450,000 cubic yards will be dredged using Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) funds. In 2010, the Obama Administration created the multi-year, multi-agency initiative to restore the Great Lakes. GLRI funds are administered and distributed through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (insert hyperlink to the GLRI webpage at http://www.epa.gov/greatlakes/glri/)
