Dredging river more urgent now

Petaluma’s river stretches from deep within the city all the way out into San Francisco Bay. The number of industries that use the river – from fishing to industrial shipping – and the organizations that use its waters to bring in tourism dollars make it an integral part of the economic vitality of Petaluma.

But the river has not been fully dredged in over 13 years, and except for an emergency partial dredging in 2006 as a result of heavy storms, the river has steadily been losing depth.

“The frequency of dredging used to be every six years,” said Petaluma Public Works Director Dan St. John. “Then the recession hit everybody and at the same time Congress took a dislike to earmarks. The combination has left us with a river that needs to be dredged.”

The United States Army Corps of Engineers and the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board have prepared an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) to address the potential environmental effects of new maintenance dredging of the Petaluma River and other channels within San Francisco Bay. The EIR satisfies compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act, the California Environmental Quality Act, and the federal Clean Water Act.

Last Spring, the Army Corps of Engineers received Congressional approval of $500,000 to fund the EIR. Dan St. John noted that river sludge and silt needed to be regularly removed from the river, in order for it to continue serving the city.

“Without regular dredging, the river becomes too shallow for a lot of vessels to navigate,” said St. John.

According to the Petaluma Wetlands Alliance, Congress declared the Petaluma tidewater slough to be a river in 1959.

“This designation from slough to river authorized periodic dredging paid for by the Corps of Engineers to remove sediment which accumulates on the bottom of the river, due to runoff from surrounding uplands and tidal deposition from San Francisco Bay.

Onita Pelligrini, executive director for the Petaluma Chamber of Commerce, noted that Petaluma’s founding in 1852 was based on successful navigation of the river. She added that the river had long been a water highway for Bay Area boaters wishing to visit Petaluma.

“To give just one example of how industry uses this river, the concrete risers for the new San Francisco Giants ball park were all created locally and shipped downriver to San Francisco by barge,” said Pelligrini.

In a letter to Linda Peters of the US Army Corps of engineers, Pelligrini said the river was an essential part of Petaluma’s prosperity, and the lack of dredging had severely restricted Petaluma’s businesses to “ship goods downriver” which she said posed “a major threat” to the city’s local economy.

“Because of the shallow waters resulting from excessive siltation, our barges have been forced to reduce loads by 20-30 percent of capacity,” said Pelligrini. “Tourism is a key element of our local economy, and … this economic benefit … has already been restricted in that large boats have … found the river to be un-navigable.”

Stephanie Bastianon, executive director of “Friends of the Petaluma River” said her organization also supported a complete dredging of the river, insisting it was important for recreation and tourism in the city.

“So many of our activities and the city’s are based on the use of this river, including our annual Rivertown revival,” said Bastianon. “This river is one of the busiest commercial rivers in the country. We support dredging because it will help get boats on the river.”

(Contact E. A. Barrera at ernesto.barrera@arguscou rier.com)