Aquatic Solutions of Newnan, Ga. has an innovative way of dealing with lake sediment. They dredge from a motorized barge. The sediment is scooped out with a clam-like shovel and placed on another barge. When that barge becomes loaded, it is pushed to shore, where the sediment is loaded into lined trucks or piled on the shore to dry.

President of Aquatic Solutions, Ron Gahring, said that his company is exempt from Army Corps of Engineers permitting. He said that the Corps doesn’t actually permit for dredging, but rather for discharge and/or return flow. Since Aquatic Solutions doesn’t drain nor refill impoundments, no permitting is required.

David Baker, project manager for the Corps Asheville office, agrees.

“The method they [Aquatic Solutions] use, floating barges and floating dredges, requires no fill or discharge,” he said. Therefore, no permits are required.

“It’s a pretty impressive operation,” Baker said.

Gahring is no stranger to lake management and watershed issues. The former “conservation” contractor (dam builder) said that he testified before the Senate in 1978 regarding the Clean Water Act. He said the cold shoulder he got from the feds in 1978 made him realize that watershed conservation was going to become an issue.

Gahring, who has been restoring lakes for 11 years, knows that his company is only a short-term solution. “The ultimate solution is to control the watershed. The lake only reflects what’s happening in the watershed,” he said.

 

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The Smoky Mountain News