Dredging accumulated sediments is sometimes needed to restore a declining fishery or the recreational usage of a lake or pond. Dredging is also sometimes needed to reclaim navigable waterways (river, canal, or channel) or to restore adequate drainage. AFFILIATED RESEARCHERS offers environmental planning, permitting, and sediment testing services to assist in the reclamation or restoration dredging of lakes, ponds, and waterways.

Environmental planning for dredging projects often calls for an accurate mapping of the existing water depths (hydrography or bathymetry) and sediment depths (sub-bottom profiling) in order to determine the specific areas and volumes of sediment to be dredged.

Using proven methods and advanced onboard, GPS-enabled hydrographic equipment, AFFILIATED RESEARCHERS provides accurate bathymetric surveys and sub-bottom profiling of lakes, ponds, and waterways showing site specific water depth contours, sediment depths, and sediment volumes with full format AutoCAD drawings.

These accurate hydrographic surveys and sub-bottom profiling, along with detailed cross-sectional drawings, are often required by regulatory agencies as part of the permitting process.

The hydrographic survey and sub-bottom profiling are also useful to the dredge operator before the dredging begins (for estimating a project quote), during the dredging operation (for project reference), and after the project is completed for job/payment verification.

The permitting process for dredging a lake, pond, or waterway can be complicated and involved. AFFILIATED RESEARCHERS works closely with our clients (and with State and Federal regulatory agencies) to successfully develop pre- and post-dredging surveys, and to support the necessary project permitting.

As part of the permit application and prior to the dredging, testing of the sediments for contamination is also required by the regulatory agencies. AFFILIATED RESEARCHERS follows State and Federal protocols when collecting the required sediment samples for laboratory analysis.