The difference in silt control from my first job in '98 to a project last month is night and day.

Back when I started on a cutter suction dredge on the Ohio River, we just had those basic silt curtains, the orange ones that looked like big pool noodles. They'd get torn up in current over 2 knots and we'd always have a plume. Fast forward to this marina project I just finished in Sandusky, we used these new geotextile turbidity barriers with weighted skirts that go down 15 feet. The water clarity meters showed we kept turbidity under 10 NTUs the whole time, which the state guys loved. The big push came from all the new regs in the early 2000s, but honestly, the gear just got way better. It costs more up front, but you save a ton on not having to deal with fines or work stoppages. Anyone else have a favorite piece of new gear that just makes the old way seem crazy?

2 comments

2 Comments

mason2091mo ago

Got to correct one thing, those old curtains were more like giant burritos than pool noodles. The real game changer for me was switching to GPS-guided bucket placement on clamshell dredges. Lets you dig way more precise, so you stir up less muck to begin with. The curtain is just cleaning up your mess, better to not make one.

wade_young861mo ago

@mason209, how much did that GPS upgrade cost?