The longest river in California, the Sacramento, gets the acclaim while the second longest—the San Joaquin—bears what has been called “the hardest working water in the world”. This alludes to the many hydroelectric dams the river water powers on its path from the Ansel Adams Wilderness to Suisun Bay. It serves as a conduit for ocean going ships to reach Delta ports. To do this the San Joaquin has been getting regular dredging for nearly a hundred years.
Pacific Dredge and Construction joined this work during the summer 2021. They were contracted to dredge approximately 220,000 CY of sediment accumulated over the period of one year. The main beneficiary of dredging is the Port of Stockton since international cargo ships transit the river to arrive to the city. Regulatory agencies have been authorizing this project for many years in a row, always being conducted hydraulically.
PDC Sandpiper was the dredge selected for this project as it is a state-of-the-arts electrical dredge capable of hydraulically dredging and disposing sediments over 20,000 ft of distance. The many long reaches and distant disposal sites required every bit of this pumping ability.
The project started in August 2021. In the overall, the project was complicated as its full of challenging situations that Pacific Dredge overcame, from logistics issues associated with setting up and breaking down disposal sites, access, environmental protection, and the challenge of shifting dredge out of the way when cargo ships passed by.
Public Safety was also a big safety concern as there were many fishing tournaments happening while dredging activities were conducted. Pacific Dredge & Construction crew worked very hard to keep this project moving forward despite challenges presented.
Our anchor tugboat Kathleen was a big help while dredging and repositioning marine equipment while ensuring its accuracy by GPS. This navigation system was vital when tule fog settled over the river area. At time visibility was measured in feet, not miles. We are proud of the hard work and professionalism exhibited by the PDC crews.
The project finished by the end of November 2021 following the environmental window established by the Regulatory agencies.