DREDGING FEASIBILITY STUDY
SOUTH BETHANY BEACH, DE
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Construction of the man-made canals and subsequent housing development began in the Town of South Bethany in the 1950s. The canal system are a series of interconnected waterways that currently consists of 33 canals that vary in width from approximately 40 feet to 90 feet and range in length from approximately 160 feet to 2,600 feet.

The topic of performing maintenance dredging in the South Bethany canals has been ongoing for over a decade. Duffield Associates was retained to establish the volume of sediments to be dredged from the canals, to ascertain potential disposal options for the Town, and to identify potential public funding sources. The project included:

• Locating potential dredged material disposal areas;
• Performing sediment and elutriate sampling analysis for the purpose of permitting;
• Reviewing potential dredging options;
• Reviewing the current proposal to dredge material from the ends of selected canals;
• Performing an updated bathymetric survey of the Town's canal system;
• Meetings with the appropriate regulatory agencies and the Town to discuss project objectives; and
• Preparing an opinion of probable construction costs.