Comments sought on dredging of Lewes-Rehoboth Canal

The state’s Division of Climate, Coastal and Energy issued a public notice Aug. 15, saying a Federal Consistency Determination has been submitted to the Delaware Coastal Management Program by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for a proposed maintenance dredging of the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal.

According to the application, submitted July 19 by Collin Greenwood, USACE Philadelphia District environmental scientist, the proposed action is expected to positively affect the area by improving navigation for recreational and commercial vessels/users within the proposed maintenance dredging section of the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal.

This project is years in the making. In January 2022, Delaware's congressional delegation announced $3.8 million in funding was secured to dredge the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal. A little more than a year later, March 2023, an additional $7.5 million was secured to complete the project. Earlier this year, a small portion of the canal was dredged in Lewes – from Roosevelt Inlet to just south of the Freeman Highway bridge.

Connecting Delaware and Rehoboth bays, the 10-mile-long canal was completed in 1918 and is part of the Intracoastal Waterway. While there has been spot dredging over the past two decades, the last time it was done in full was 2002.

According to the notice from Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, the dredging would be done in two phases.

The first phase involves the removal of about 41,000 cubic yards of material from a 4.56-mile stretch between 300 feet southeast of the Freeman bridge to 1,300 feet southwest of the Henlopen Acres Marina.

The second phase involves the removal of about 49,000 cubic yards of material from a 3.68-mile stretch between the Henlopen Acres Marina to the canal terminus in Rehoboth Bay. The dredged material will be placed in the Lewes confined upland dredge material placement facility located south of Cedar Street in Lewes.

The dredging is proposed between the months of October and March to minimize any potential adverse impacts to horseshoe crabs, migratory shorebirds, summer flounder, American eel, sandbar sharks and sand tiger sharks, and Atlantic sturgeon, said Greenwood.

Greenwood said the proposed action will restore the authorized navigable depths of minus-6 feet mean lower low water with an allowable overdredge to minus-7 feet mean lower low water within the proposed maintenance dredging section. This will ensure safe navigation within the canal, the public's right of navigation and fishing within the canal, he said.

USACE is seeking a federal consistency concurrence for maintenance dredging operations covering a 10-year period in anticipation that future dredging may be needed. The proposed activity is subject to review for consistency under the policies of the coastal management program.

Comments concerning this Federal Consistency Determination will be accepted through Tuesday, Sept. 3. Comments may be sent to: Delaware Coastal Programs, Kimberly Cole, Administrator, 100 W. Water St., Suite 7B, Dover, DE, 19904, or electronically to DNREC_DCP_PublicComment@delaware.gov. For additional information, go to de.gov/dnrecnotices or call 302-739-9283.