Reminder: DNR Hearing Tuesday, Feb. 10, 5:30 p.m.

Residents are reminded to attend the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Public Hearing regarding the Burns Small Boat Harbor dredging project scheduled for February 10, 2009 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Ogden Dunes Firehouse. Several recommendations will be made by the Town regarding the permit the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has applied for from DNR to dredge the Burns Small Boat Harbor and entrance to the waterway. The dredgings may be placed on the Ogden Dunes beach or in the littoral drift just off the beach. To see a copy of the Town's letter on the project to DNR, to be presented at the Hearing, visit http://www.ogdendunes.net/images/Position_paper_on_dredging_as_of_1-11-09.pdf.

Residents and the public may also make remarks about the project. Remarks should be limited to the quality of the sediment as opposed to water quality issues that might result from the dredging operation.

You don't necessarily have to speak during the hearing. If you wish you can simply turn in your remarks to the hearing officer.

Town Provides Comments on IDEM Dredging Permit

Potential water quality issues with the Burns Small Boat Harbor dredging project were noted in a recent letter submitted by the Town Council to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM). The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), who will be conducting the dredging project, must apply for both IDEM as well as Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) permits.

First of all, as with the DNR permit, the Town believes that if the dredging project results in additional garbage on the beach, USACE should be required to clean up the garbage, according to Indiana laws that do not allow the waters of Lake Michigan to be degraded.

Retesting of the material was also again requested, since the project tests were completed last summer prior to the September flood event. USACE dredging guidelines recommend that dredging projects utilize the most recent data available because major events, such as storms, can cause sediment transport between sites, and can alter the sources and composition of chemicals of potential concern (COPCs) released into the environment over time.

The Town also emphasized the demographics of beach goers, which includes both children and adults who might be exposed to contaminants through their skin or through ingestion over the five-year period of the permit. Contaminants found in the samples, fortunately not in large quantities, included both cancer-causing as well as bioaccumulative chemicals of concern, such as PCBs, Benzene and Toluene.

The letter again emphasized that USACE conduct a debris survey since items such as cans of paint, bottles of lubricant, spray cans, railroad ties, and more are still washing out of the ditch onto the beach.

If the material is retested and found to be safe, the Town would like to have material from the approach and entrance channel of the small boat harbor hydraulically dredged and placed right on the Ogden Dunes beach.

During the dredging and placement of the material, some water quality may be comprimised in the short-term by releases of ammonia and phosphorus. The release of these parameters should still be noted, however, because they can increase algae growth, which is becoming more of a problem on the shallow south end of Lake Michigan. Runaway algae growth can cause fish kills by depleting oxygen in the water; and makes the beach unsightly -- and smelly if it is cladophora algae.

The Town is also requesting that USACE provide some sort of Monitoring Plan to IDEM before the project commences. The Monitoring Plan would tell how the project is being conducted, how much material was dredged and where it was placed, and whether or not water quality was impacted.

The plan might also provide a way of determining if the project should be temporarily suspended after a significant rain event. Rain events can cause temporary large increases in E. coli readings on the beach, as the Town has discovered through its IDEM-funded Beach Monitoring Program conducted
each summer. Unfortunately, Burns Waterway contributes some of the highest loads of E. coli bacteria into Lake Michigan in the
State of Indiana.

Finally, to help minimize impacts on the beach water quality, the Town recommended in the letter that the dredging project commence no earlier than late-July, or even August, of each year.

A copy of the letter to IDEM may be found on http://www.ogdendunes.net/images/Town_of_Ogden_Dunes_letter_on_IDEM_WQC_permit.pdf. ODEM will notify the Town when a final decision is made on the permit.