BOWERS BEACH, Del. - Preparations are underway for an emergency dredging project in the Murderkill River.
The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, with approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and DNREC regulators, will remove approximately 52,000 cubic yards of sediment from the river’s channel. The sediment will then be relocated to the South Bowers Beach shoreline.
“Not maintaining our channel is a death sentence for our town - a threat to our very soul and the livelihood of our fishermen, captains, and our first responders,” said Bowers Beach Mayor Ada Puzzo.
The last dredging in Murderkill River was in 2014. Since then, sand, mud, and other materials continued to build up, making the channel less navigable, and eventually, unsafe for boats to pass through.
“Oh my God, in low tide, boats can’t get out,” said Alex Hionis, a local fisherman. “It’s a foot and a half at low tide. So you have a major shipping channel, I think there’s about ten different commercial fisherman, charter boats. They’re all stuck by the tides.”
The majority of Bowers Beach residents and boaters agree that the project is a good idea for the channel, but there are some other concerns.
“It's great that they're doing it, but I'm also a landowner,” added Hionis. “So the problem is, in my eyes, they're taking the dredgings and putting it on another beach. We're getting trucked in play-sand basically, and the erosion factor is crazy. It'll just erode away and wash away, and fill it back in."
The project is funded by $2.3 million from DNREC appropriations made under fiscal year 2022 and 2023 Bond Bills. It is set to begin this week and be completed by the end of August.
