An Opinion of Dredging: Benefits and Drawbacks
Things to Consider Before Opting for Dredging Service
Dredging is a controversial issue in many coastal communities. It has both benefits and drawbacks. Lake Michigan Marine Construction can help you decide whether this service is right for your needs.
Dredging can help keep waterways open for navigation by removing sediment buildup from channels and harbours. This is especially important for commercial boats and ships.
Dredging can help improve water quality by removing polluted sediment from waterways, lakes, rivers and estuaries. This is especially true in areas with combined sewer overflows (CSOs) during rainstorms or where factories have released pollutants into the waterways over time. Removing sediments also helps remove pollutants that could harm marine life (pro).
This process also allows watercraft to access areas like marinas where they couldn’t before due to shallow waters (pro).
However, removing all the sediment can cause erosion on nearby beaches. And some people argue that it doesn’t really reduce the need for dredging in the long run (con). Also, it may disturb contaminated sediments that contain heavy metals such as mercury or arsenic; it changes natural habitats of aquatic life by altering currents and the location of nutrients; it releases a large amount of sediment back to streams which can cause flooding problems downstream; and if carried out excessively across an area, creates environmental damage because there will not be enough plants on those new sediments.
Another disadvantage is that it can be very expensive. For example, Port Phillip Bay in Melbourne Australia spent $18 million on a one year program to remove 200 tonnes of mud from its channels and harbours
And finally, some people think that removing all sediment may not always improve navigation because you’ll still have areas where boat traffic has to go around sandbars or other obstacles due to shallow waters. That means spending money without much benefit.
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