Sand Dredging
As part of the construction, a sand trap immediately to the south of the sea opening was incorporated into the design to capture sand build up from the natural south to north movement along the coast caused by the predominant south-westerly winds. If the sand was not captured and mechanically moved, the channel would quickly close as there is insufficient water flow out of the channel to compensate for the build up.
Approximately 85,000 m³ of sand per year is mechanically moved from the south to the northern side of the channel. This is done by converting the build up in the catchment area into a slurry and pumping the mixture across the channel in one of two submerged 315 mm pipes.
Read more about this topic: Dawesville Channel
Famous quotes containing the word sand:
“We noticed several other sandy tracts in our voyage; and the course of the Merrimack can be traced from the nearest mountain by its yellow sand-banks, though the river itself is for the most part invisible. Lawsuits, as we hear, have in some cases grown out of these causes. Railroads have been made through certain irritable districts, breaking their sod, and so have set the sand to blowing, till it has converted fertile farms into deserts, and the company has had to pay the damages.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)