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Tarpon Channel Dredging Completed

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SUNCOAST NEWS STAFF

Published: October 20, 2007

TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. - TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. - After nine years of waiting and planning, dredging of recreational boating channels on the Anclote River has been completed.

American Earth Movers Inc. from Miami Shores completed the in-water removal of silt late last month. Weather and the Beckett Bridge restoration caused a slight delay at the end of the project.

The city will now conduct underwater surveys and inspections to insure the project has been completed to specifications, DiPasqua said.

Silt dredged from the river bottom was placed on the site of the city's dog park on Live Oak Street. The dog park was relocated to another fenced area of the property.

The city still has to determine what to do with the sandy silt, but officials want the park restored to its original state.

The project took much longer to come to fruition than originally envisioned. The city finally prevailed after a lengthy series of legal challenges to the dredging project, said Joseph DiPasqua, development services director.

Many recreational boaters waited several years to be able to get their boats through the channels in the river and its bayous during low tide, he said.

The city sought and was ultimately granted permits to dredge 11 areas along the river. Depth testing, however, revealed only seven areas needed to have accumulated sediments removed to make them more navigable.

The dredged areas were along Kreamer Bayou, Sunset Lagoon, Inness Bayou and other smaller channels along the river. The price tag was about $872,300.

In 2000, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredged the main Anclote River channel, leading to the Sponge Docks. The main channel should remain at an acceptable depth for several years, DiPasqua said.

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