The Detroit District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers begins dredging 68,000 cubic yards of sediment from Saugatuck Harbor this week.
The channel entrance will be dredged 16 feet below the base elevation and the sand will be placed along the shore for about a mile from the Saugatuck South Pier to Oval Beach.
The channel itself runs two miles and connects the Kalamazoo River to Lake Michigan.
Typically happening every three to four years, dredging of the channel last took place in 2019.
The Corps tested and certified that the sediment dredged from the bottom of the channel is free of contaminants and safe to be placed along the shoreline.
The King Company of Holland, Michigan, is contracted to do the work for $341,000, after they recently completed dredging in Muskegon Harbor for $1.4 million.
The project is tentatively scheduled to be completed by July 19th.
The public is asked to avoid areas where active dredging and placement is happening.
