Description:

C&M Dredging performed an environmental restoration dredging project to restore water quality and depth to Lake Lorraine in Leesburg, FL. The project involved using hydraulic dredging to remove 53,000 cubic yards of silt and muck from the 10-acre lake. The core project challenge was that all the material had to be dewatered, dried, and loaded for transport on an adjacent site less than one acre in size. We employed an 8-inch swinging ladder Ellicott Dredge to pump the material to our dewatering site to accomplish this task. We introduced a polymer utilizing an automated chemical dosage system to ensure the material rapidly dewatered in the geotextile tubes. Over four months, C&M Dredging used 75 geotextile tubes that were cycled in real-time (8 tubes per cycle) while the dredging was taking place. The dredged material was sufficiently dried and loaded into trucks for beneficial reuse within three days after being pumped into the tubes. Furthermore, the material was reduced in volume by 50% from when it was dredged to when it was disposed of through the proper implementation of the geotextile tube and polymer dewatering setup.

The most significant value added to the client was that C&M Dredging coordinated and accomplished the work on a minimal staging and loading site that would typically require mechanical material dewatering or belt presses in less time and at less cost. By adequately utilizing geotextile tubes and partnering with industry leaders in chemical dosing and automation, C&M could perform the work faster and at less expense than conventional small-footprint dewatering methodologies.