The Murderkill River, shown here where it meets the Delaware Bay at Bowers, will be dredged in August to improve navigation for commercial and recreational vessels. DNREC photo.

An emergency dredging project is set to begin and be completed by the end of August to restore navigability in the Murderkill River, the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control announced today. Permitted by and with modification approvals from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and DNREC regulators, the project calls for removing approximately 52,000 cubic yards of sediment from the river’s navigation channel. DNREC will then make beneficial reuse of the dredged sand to nourish up to 1,000 feet of eroding shoreline at South Bowers Beach.

Funding for the $2.3 million project comes from appropriations to DNREC made under fiscal year 2022 and 2023 Bond Bills, both of which named the Murderkill River as a dredging priority.

“This important state-funded dredging project in the Murderkill River will restore navigability of the channel while bolstering shoreline resiliency in South Bowers,” said DNREC Secretary Shawn M. Garvin. “It’s a win-win in two critical DNREC areas of responsibility: navigable waterways and infrastructure support. Thanks to our partners – the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the town of Bowers and the South Bowers Volunteer Fire Company – for working with us to bring a much-needed dredging project to fruition.”

U.S. Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.), chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee, worked with the Army Corps of Engineers to ensure this project could begin.

“After working to secure the necessary federal permits from the Army Corps of Engineers, I’m so glad that this project will now be able to begin and restore the Murderkill River to its full potential,” said Senator Carper. “In the Senate, I’m leading the effort to pass bipartisan legislation that would support navigability in our waters for years to come. Enacting this legislation will ensure towns across our state can better access the help they need to maintain their infrastructure.”

The Murderkill River is a federally-authorized navigation project that requires periodic dredging to maintain the safety and navigable access to the river, critically important to commercial and emergency vessels as well as recreational boating. The river forms the southern boundary of the Town of Bowers – a popular boating area with its docks, DNREC Division of Fish and Wildlife-owned boat launch and large parking area – before flowing into the Delaware Bay.

In early 2022, DNREC removed sand from the Murderkill Inlet’s navigation channel but was limited by having to use a land-based excavator, and navigation continued to be challenge at low tide, especially in the mile-long approach channel to the Inlet. Nautical dredging equipment to be deployed next month will deepen the channel. An onshore staging area, made possible through a temporary construction easement agreement between DNREC and the South Bowers Volunteer Fire Company, will help facilitate the project. Dredging will be carried out by Cottrell Contracting Corp. of Chesapeake, Va., with almost a century-long record of Eastern Seaboard infrastructure dredging.

“Nourishing the South Bowers shoreline is a vitally important defense of the coastal community against extreme weather, an impact of climate change,” said Jesse Hayden, DNREC Shoreline and Waterway Management Section administrator. “The beach-quality sand from this latest dredging project will be used to extend the area of an earlier beach replenishment project that also utilized dredged sand from the Murderkill’s navigation channel.”

With the project expected to start on or about Aug. 1, the U.S. Coast Guard soon will give notice for mariners to exercise caution and maintain safe distance from the dredging activity – to include floating and submerged pipelines in the Murderkill, and the dredge and support vessels in the area. The USCG also advises that commercial fishing nets, crab pots and other structures removed from the dredging area before work begins.

About DNREC
The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control protects and manages the state’s natural resources, protects public health, provides outdoor recreational opportunities and educates Delawareans about the environment. The DNREC Division of Watershed Stewardship develops and implements innovative watershed assessment, monitoring and implementation activities. For more information, visit the website and connect with @DelawareDNREC on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Media Contacts: Joanna Wilson, joanna.wilson@delaware.gov; Michael Globetti, michael.globetti@delaware.gov

REHOBOTH BEACH – The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control announced today that a beach nourishment project for the City of Rehoboth Beach partnering DNREC’s Shoreline & Waterway Management Section with the US Army Corps of Engineers expects to begin pumping sand this week along the north end of Rehoboth Beach.

Sand pumping operations by the project contractor Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company will coincide with planned temporary closures of sections of the beach to ensure public safety. The first closure area is near the Deauville Beach parking lot. Work on the beach nourishment project will continue south to Rehoboth Avenue in Rehoboth Beach before moving to Dewey Beach for a second nourishment project teaming DNREC and the Corps of Engineers.

The Oak Brook, Ill.-based Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company is operating on a contract managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which provided 65 percent of the project’s $7.2 million in funding. DNREC, as the non-federal partner for the project, provided 35 percent of the funds required for completing the nourishment project.

Contractor personnel have been moving equipment to the site during ongoing preparatory work the past few weeks. Rehoboth Beach’s beach closure areas will move south along with construction activity. Estimated completion for the nourishment project is 20 days in Rehoboth Beach followed by 25 days in Dewey Beach.

DNREC staff work closely with the Corps of Engineers on project oversight, participating in weekly project progress meetings, acting as liaison between the Corps and the municipalities where is occurring, and participate in inspections and acceptance of the project components upon completion.

For more information and questions about the project, please call Steve Rochette of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Philadelphia District at 215-656-6515.

Media contact: Beth Shockley, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902

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DOVER – When the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers struck rock bottom during deepening of the Delaware River navigational channel, the state’s artificial reef program under the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control’s Division of Fish & Wildlife struck a new partnership with the Corps of Engineers for creating new fish habitat. Since last December, DNREC’s Fisheries Section and the Corps have partnered on a beneficial reuse project for converting nearly a million tons of rock removed from the river bottom into enhanced habitat for marine life on two artificial reef sites in the lower Delaware Bay – and at no cost to the state.

“This project is a shining example of state and federal cooperation that achieves better management and use of natural resources,” said DNREC Secretary Shawn M. Garvin. “We are grateful for the opportunity to team with the Corps on a project that yields such outstanding environmental and economic benefits – ranging from better navigation of the Delaware River for commercial shipping, to improving fisheries habitat, to increasing anglers’ opportunities in Delaware waters.”

“The Corps greatly appreciates being able to join forces with our DNREC partners and the State of Delaware on such an innovative project,” said Lt. Col. Kristen Dahle, Commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Philadelphia District. “Beneficially using rock from the Delaware River navigation channel to create enhanced habitat aligns engineering with natural processes, and maximizes scarce resources. These types of projects create triple-win outcomes integrating social, environmental and economic benefits.”

During the Corps of Engineers’ deepening of the river’s navigational channel to 45 feet to accommodate larger ships coming into port, two types of rock were encountered between Wilmington and Philadelphia: bedrock and more abundant glacial rock that washed downstream during the most recent ice age that spanned some 2.6 million years. In some parts of the river, almost 5 feet of bedrock (amounting to 355,000 tons) was removed to ensure the navigation depth. That rock was transported by Great Lakes Dredging Co., a Corps of Engineers contractor, and deployed to Delaware Reef Site #4, south of Bowers Beach and north of Mispillion Inlet, expanding the reef’s structure to 50 percent of its planned development by the Division of Fish & Wildlife.

Glacial rock taken from the river bottom yielded even more extraordinary reefing material for DNREC. From December through March, more than 635,000 tons of glacial rock was moved by another Corps’ contractor, Norfolk Dredging Co., by barge to the Brown Shoal reef site #6 and piled in mounds 15 to 20 feet high amidst bottom consisting mostly of mud and sand. The addition of glacial rock means that reef site #6 is fully developed, expanding recreational fishing opportunities for the increasing number of anglers who fish Delaware’s world-class artificial reef system each year.

Both kinds of rock delivered by the Corps of Engineers are a boon to the artificial reef system and superior to many other reefing materials used by the program. Natural rock is a very rare habitat type in the mid-Atlantic region and supports a very rich, diverse and novel invertebrate community, dominated by blue mussels. Fish benefit from the protection this habitat provides and also from an increase in food availability from the invertebrates occupying the rocks.

For more information about the beneficial reuse project between DNREC and the Corps of Engineers, please visit the Division of Fish & Wildlife website.

Media contact: Michael Globetti, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902

Vol. 48, No. 185

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