[Image]
 [Image]



                                  Site 104

                   Open Water Dredged Material Placement

    --------------------------------------------------------------------

This study was initiated in August 1997 to evaluate the environmental
impacts of placing clean dredged material at Site 104, near Kent Island, in
the upper Chesapeake Bay.

Site 104 is a previously used 1,800 acre open water placement site located
about 2,000 feet north of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and one mile west of
Kent Island. The site is a long rectangle, approximately four and a half
miles long and one half mile wide. At the request of the Maryland Port
Administration (MPA), and in accordance with the Clean Water Act, the Corps
of Engineers, Baltimore District is evaluating the site for placement of
approximately 18 million cubic yards of clean dredged material. The 1996
Governor’s Action Plan for Dredged Material Management recommended Site 104
as an open water placement site, based on previous use of the site for
dredged material placement, the lack of significant adverse effects
indicated by environmental monitoring conducted in 1975-76, the potential
capacity of the site, and the potential for improving conditions at the
site.

Beginning in 1924, the site was used for dredged material placement for a
period of 50 years. Following its last use (placement of approximately
850,000 cubic yards of material in 1975), environmental monitoring was
conducted. The monitoring indicated no significant adverse environmental
impacts. If the results of current environmental evaluation studies
indicate that placing additional material would not result in significant
adverse impacts, more material, filling the site to a depth of -45 feet,
may be placed. The clean material to be placed would be dredged from
federal navigation channels in the main stem of the Chesapeake Bay,
including the Craighill Entrance, Craighill Channel, Craighill Angle,
Craighill Upper Range; Cutoff Angle; Brewerton Channel Eastern Extension;
Swan Point Channel; Tolchester Channel; and the Southern Approach Channel
to the C& D Canal. (See attached Map.)

For more information, click on the following newsletters:

   * Site 104 Newsletter, Issue No. 1, dated August 1997 (must be viewed in
     Adobe Acrobat Reader. The following link will download Acrobat .PDF
     files. You may need to use "Save Next Link As..." or "Save to Disk"
     functions of your Web browser.)
   * Site 104 Newsletter, Issue No. 2, dated March 1998

                                  [Image]

                         [back] RETURN TO DREDGING

                                  [Image]

                       © U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
                                 Disclaimer
                       Page Updated: March 25, 1998