The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Galveston District, awarded recently a $1.3 million contract to RLB Contracting Inc., for dewatering of Houston Ship Channel Lost Lake Placement Area.
“ Dewatering allows for the outflow of excess water which helps to consolidate material within the site and increase the placement area’s capacity to hold more dredge material from the Houston Ship Channel ,” said Tricia Campbell, an operations manager with the USACE Galveston District’s Navigation Branch.
According to Campbell, the process is part of the district’s Disposal Area Management Practices which ensures placement areas are prepared for future dredging activities.
Campbell added that dewatering contracts are a key component of the Corps’ overall management of dredged material placement areas.
Each year, USACE Galveston District dredges approximately 30 to 40 million cubic yards of material from Texas channels to fulfill its mission of keeping waterways open for navigation and commerce (benefiting 28 ports handling 500 million tons of commerce annually).
Work is scheduled to begin in May 2017 and is expected to be completed by October 2017.