Friday, June 7, 2013

Port of Savannah deepening depends on oxygen machines

The settlement that ends court challenges to deepening the Port of Savannah's shipping channel hinges on a federal agency proving that machines are capable of artificially boosting oxygen in the water to help fish breathe.

The agreement last week in U.S. District Court allows the federal government to proceed with a $652 million project to dredge more than 30 miles of the Savannah River between the port and the Atlantic Ocean.

Environmental groups dropped their lawsuits when the Army Corps of Engineers pledged to conduct extra environmental monitoring and the Georgia Ports Authority agreed to spend more than $33 million on additional conservation efforts.

However, according to the settlement, conservationist groups can return to court if the Army Corps fails to successfully demonstrate a solution to a longstanding health problem--low levels of dissolved oxygen near the bottom of the river along stretches that have already been deepened by dredging five times in the past century.

"I liken it to driving down a highway, and for 10 miles you have to drive underwater and you run out of breath," said Savannah Riverkeeper Tonya Bonitatibus, whose group was among those that filed suit. "That's essentially what the river is like now for the species that live in it."

The Army Corps says it can fix the problem by spending $70 million to install a dozen machines that essentially work like giant versions of the bubblers in home aquariums. The machines suck up river water, swirl it with oxygen from a generator and then inject it back into the river.

As part of the court settlement, the Army Corps has agreed to test the oxygen machines twice, each time for a period of 59 days. That duration will capture two complete cycles of the moon's phases, which influence the tides.

For more of the Hampton Roads article: hamptonroads.com

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