Occoquan River Channel Access (ORCA)

Background

In 1999, a growing concern arose about the shoaling and narrowing of the Occoquan Channel due to a number of groundings and damage sustained and reported by Occoquan boaters who have been in the channel and struck bottom, an object on the bottom, or churned up copious amounts of mud in their wake. The commercial users have had to increasingly lighten their barge loads and operate at mid or high tide to avoid problems. Commercial towers reported several dozen groundings and recoveries in the area. Boaters have gone aground and hit things. One vessel sustained over $14,000 damage.

An unofficial sounding of the channel last Fall identified three areas where depths are problematic:

1. On the Southwest side, approaching marker #9 outbound, depths drop to under 6 ft MLLW from 11 ft.

2. On the Northeast side, inbound, alongside Conrad Island, depths decrease to 4 ft (water on the opposite side of the channel in this area was 11 ft).

3. On the Northeast side, inbound, 100-300 yds before reaching inner marker # 10 (currently a winter buoy), depths decrease to 4 ft.

Because the Occoquan is a Coast Guard approved and maintained navigable channel all the way to the Rt 123 Bridge, the Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for maintaining the river channel. Preliminary investigation with the Corps indicated that the Occoquan is designated an "inactive" channel and is only supposed to be maintained to a depth of 6 feet at Mean Low Low Water (MLLW). "Inactive" is an interesting designation, as Salisbury Towing (operators of the Captain Tom Tug) ships about 50,000 tons of aggregate materials per month into the Occoquan, and makes six round trips per week in the channel. Some 1500 recreational boats home-ported or regularly launched on the Occoquan use the channel. Also, as far as we could determine, there has been no Corps maintenance of the channel for over 20 years. We suspect that, over the years, continuing build up of silt has begun to trap logs and other debris, and that the channel in places is much less serviceable that it is supposed to be.

Recent conversations with numerous members of the Occoquan River community - both commercial and recreational users of our river - indicate that there is a growing problem. The commercial users have had to increasingly lighten their barge loads and operate at mid or high tide to avoid problems. Commercial towers report several dozen groundings and recoveries in the area. Boaters have gone aground and hit things. One sustained over $14,000 damage.

Action

Starting in October, 1999 ORMA began to work with the Town of Occoquan and the community of the Occoquan to gain support for dredging. We received supporting letters from a host of Occoquan organizations.

ORMA sponsored the second annual Blessing of the Fleet on May 7th, and included a VIP boat that took the Mayor and members of the Occoquan Town Council, Prince William County Supervisors and Fairfax County Supervisors up the river to point out the issues. As a result, both Counties and the Town endorsed the dredging, and ORMA worked with Congressman Tom Davis to get an appropriation of $1M in the FY 2001 Energy and Water Bill. That bill has passed the full House and the Senate Appropriations Committee as of this writing and is pending a Senate floor vote.

Status

Thanks to the efforts and concern of Mayor Pat Conway and the Occoquan Town Council, the Board of Supervisors of both Prince William and Fairfax Counties (particularly Sean Connaughton, Ruth Griggs, and Elaine McConnell), Congressman Tom Davis was able to secure a $1M appropriation for dredging needed areas of the river in the FY2001 Energy and Water Bill. The Corps of Engineers has surveyed the river and identified some trouble spots, and ORMA has identified other problem areas in cooperation with the Town Council of Occoquan that need to be addressed. Sediment must be analyzed and a spoil site approved, but we anticipate that there should be no toxic problem with the sediment, since the river is the outflow from the Occoquan reservoir.

ORMA has also identified a possible site adjacent to the channel where the spoil may be deposited and contribute to the enlargement and enhancement of what is now an overcrowded bird nesting area, creating a win-win situation for the river, the environment, and wildlife. We anticipate that given satisfactory solutions to these issues, the Corps of Engineers will dredge the trouble spots during the Winter months of 2001-2002.

Jim Ball

Supporters

We have received verbal support and have received or are anticipating letters from the following organizations (an asterisk indicates a letter of support has been received):

Commercial

Florida Rock Industries and its subsidiaries:
*Salisbury Towing (operators of the Captain Tom Tug)
Maryland Rock
Virginia Concrete

*Vulcan Materials Corporation
Occoquan Harbor Marina
*West Marine Woodbridge
*Fairfax Yacht Club Condominium Marina
*Potomac Marine
*Hoffmaster's Marina
*Belmont Town Center Associates

Recreational

Caution

While we are assessing the problem, boaters are cautioned to pay attention to running in the channel, and not too close to the edge of the outer channel markers. We believe that the channel is shoaling in from the North side; however, we need to obtain better data to define the problem.