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From: Jackson County News Release Ken Flannigan Filed 8/22/08 GCN Three cubic yards of silt at a time; that’s how much silt a dredging “clam bucket” scoops up each time it hits the water’s bottom. It’s also the standard Jackson County is using to measure the progress of this summer’s massive dredging projects. With more than 22,300 scoops already removed from four bayous, the County’s dredging is almost 70 percent complete. “This dredging is restoring the waterways that Hurricane Katrina made almost unusable,” says, 2008 Board President John McKay. “These waterways connect people to the activities that make living on the Coast unique.” As Katrina’s flood waters receded from Jackson County, an estimated 100,000 cubic yards of silt was dumped into six of the County’s most traveled and used bayous - Chicot, Fort Bayou, Graveline, Moreton, Ocean Springs Harbor, and St. Martin. On average, this massive siltation lowered water depth two to three feet throughout each bayou. “Katrina reversed a decade’s worth of County maintenance on these six bayous in a matter of hours. The siltation is affecting recreational watercraft, commercial watercraft and tidal water flow patterns throughout the bayous,” Project Manager Butch Loper said. To restore these six bayous and their navigable waterways, the Jackson County Board of Supervisors began a massive dredging project in mid-April 2008. The $2.9 million project will be completed this fall and is being fully reimbursed by FEMA public assistance funds. Dredging is now complete in four waterways – Ocean Springs Harbor, Fort Bayou, St. Martin and Bayou Chico in Pascagoula. The dredging barge will now move to Moreton Bayou in St. Martin followed by Graveline Bayou in Gautier. Along with dredging, the County is also planning to build jetties at the mouth of Graveline Bayou and Bayou Chico. The County is in the process of acquiring permits to build these jetties. Construction is expected to begin in Bayou Chico next week.
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