Dredging Begins on the Bush River

Last Updated on Thursday, October 22, 2009 13:35 Thursday, October 22, 2009 12:26

A Harford County Parks and Recreation project that has been in the planning stages for over 4 years ago has begun on the Bush River. The dredging of two channels on the Upper Bush River and Otter Creek started the week of October 19.

  The contract for the dredging was approved by the County Board of Estimates on September 24, 2009. Channels were originally submitted in 2005 and included 3 main channels.  Plans were altered and the approved permit now only provides for two channels (see map). These have been marked by the Department of Natural Resources and the contractor is mobilizing equipment to the site. There are currently no plans to dredge the third channel on the original plan due to concerns about the effect on sub aquatic vegetation.  

Dredging work on the Bush River can only be performed each year between October 15 and February 15 due to seasonal fish spawning.  

All dredged material will be pumped into the Dredged Material Placement (DMP) site located at the end of Fords Lane. Monitoring of the outflow from this $750,000 site will be made hourly and results will be reported to the enforcement division of MDE on a weekly basis. Effluent discharged from the DMP site may not exceed a suspended solid level of 400 ppm.

Channel widths will vary from 30 to 50 feet wide. Depths of the channels will range from 3.5 to 5 feet deep at Mean low water (MLW). Officials estimate 19,650 cubic yards of material will be removed from the main channels.  There are 42 spur channels requested by residents that would remove an additional 30, 558 cubic yards of material, however these private spurs are not included in the current contract and remain unapproved.