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'Hey, what's that big boat I keep seeing off of Orange Beach?'[/size][img width=300 height=160]http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/gulfcoastnewstoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/9/56/956f5796-1947-11e2-a74b-001a4bcf887a/50803a9678488.preview-300.jpg[/img]
JOHN MULLEN/Staff Photo
Posted: Thursday, October 18, 2012 12:04 pm
BY JOHN MULLEN
jmullen@gulfcoastnewspapers.com GulfCoastNewsToday.com
ORANGE BEACH, Ala. – Inquiring minds want to know: What is that boat off the shore of Orange Beach and what the heck is it doing?
According to Orange Beach Coastal Resources Director Phillip West it’s the Glen Edwards and it’s the largest hopper dredge in the U.S. fleet.
The Manson Construction vessel is executing a beach renourishment project to replace beaches eroded by in 2008 from Gustav and Ike and 2009 from Ida.
Right now the crews are working in Gulf Shores and Public Works Director for the city Mark Acreman they are working fast.
“They can do about 1,000 feet a day,” he said.
The Glen Edwards is working from a “borrow sight” off of Orange Beach that officials have studied and taken samples from to make sure it is oil free. After it is taken aboard the Glen Edwards, the vessel moves to an offshore pipe connection to pump the sand.
“They’ve been installing the pipe, the submerged pipe they have to install and that takes the longest,” Acreman said. “The boat can only come so close to shore then it has to hook to the pipe and pump.
“They’ll go out to the location, suck that into the hull, it’s a hopper dredge. Then they’ll get as close as they can to the beach and they’ll hook it to that pipe and pump it from the boat to the shoreline.”
Don’t be alarmed, Acreman says, if what’s dumped on shore looks a little gray. It’s still the sugar white sands residents and visitors are used to.
“It comes out in a slurry and the liquid drains back,” Acreman said. “Like the last one, it comes out a little darker and it has some organics in it, but as soon as the sun hits it, it bleaches out white. Everything we got there now was that dark color.”
He still expects some alarm from the uninitiated when they first see the new sand dumped into place.
“People will see that and not understand,” Acreman said. “We had the same thing last time, but the folks that live there saw what was happening and saw how it bleached out in a week and were like ‘oh, OK. That’s fine.’”
FEMA will provide 75 percent of the estimated $13.2 million project and the Alabama Emergency Management Agency will pay 10 percent. The matching amount for Orange Beach will end up being about $650,000 while Gulf Shores will have to pay $1.1 million.
