Dredged Material Management Planning for the Intracoastal and Okeechobee Waterways in Florida

Increased environmental awareness and accompanying regulation during the 1970s made securing dredged material placement areas increasingly difficult and expensive, especially in Florida's high growth and increasingly urbanized coastal corridor. To address this situation, in 1986 the Florida Inland Navigation District (FIND), local sponsor for the 404-mile federally authorized Intracoastal Waterway (ICWW) in Florida, embarked on a two phased, long-range planning program to ensure the Waterway's continued viability. Addressed on a county-by-county basis, the program's first phase defined short- and long-term program needs based on a comprehensive examination of historic dredging records, survey information, and sediment data; developed basic plan concepts that reflect specific characteristics of each operational channel reach; and identified suitable centralized sites — including both upland containment sites and, where appropriate, beach placement sites — that satisfy these needs based on preliminary environmental, engineering, operational, and socioeconomic criteria. Phase II consists of gathering detailed, site-specific information required for permitting the primary dredged material management areas identified in Phase I. Phase II also addresses the FIND's acquiring these sites, through negotiated purchase or condemnation; designing the containment facilities; and constructing, operating, and maintaining these sites as permanent dredged material management areas. Phase I for the ICWW is now complete in all 12 counties that comprise the District. With all site documentation and preliminary facility designs also now complete, and the FIND's acquisition of all required properties nearly complete, Phase II continues with facility construction. To date, the Jacksonville District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) or the FIND has constructed 12 of the containment facilities, with an additional 13 facilities included in the USACE's five-year construction schedule. More recent legislation has extended FIND sponsorship to the 98 miles of the Okeechobee Waterway (OWW) that falls within the District's geographic limits. Despite the OWW's obvious differences compared to the ICWW, the same phased planning process is proving similarly successful. Phase I has also been completed in this area, and Phase II is well under way. When complete, the program will comprise a permanent infrastructure of approximately 49 containment facilities and 8 beach placement sites designed to manage over 45 million cubic yards of material over the next 50 years and beyond.