According to examiner.com, dredging is back on the Launceston Flood Authority’s radar.
New authority chairman Alan Birchmore, who comes with a background in port dredging, said it had a role to play in managing the Tamar River which is annually choked with 60 per cent more silt than in pre-European settlement days.
The Examiner reports that the Environmental Protection Agency has issued the authority with a three-year dredging permit valid until April 2015 although further approvals are required to meet the conditions of the permit. The required environmental testing and management plan is expected to cost the authority a further $250,000.
The permit now only allows dredging in the Tamar’s channels which quickly fill up with silt once it is removed. The authority believes getting the permits extended to encompass dredging on the mud banks, which are the areas often blamed for creating an unpleasant atheistic along the Tamar, will be straightforward.
Mr Birchmore said dredging of these areas would slightly mitigate flooding because there was more space for the water to go to.
[mappress]
Dredging Today Staff, July 5, 2012