It's a day that, at times, seemed like it might never arrive.
After almost five years of pushing to have secondary channels of the Fraser River cleared of silt, the first dredgers were at work Monday in Ladner.
With all the needed permits in place, Vancouver Pile Driving began work on the first phase of a $10 million project.
Until 1998, dredging of all channels was a federal responsibility. In 1999, the port authority took over dredging of the main navigational channel only. Since then, silt has been building up in the many secondary channels.
The grassroots Ladner Sediment Group has been working to get some of the secondary channels dredged since 2009, all the while the silt has continued to pile up, wreaking havoc on float homes and making some of the channels impassable during low tide.
In late 2012, the group finally saw its efforts pay off with the announcement of a $10-million project to dredge secondary channels in both Ladner and Steveston.
The first channel to be cleared stretches from where the Ladner Reach and Ladner Harbour channels meet east to the Elliott Street wharf.
The first phase of work, which will remove about 210,000 cubic metres from the bottom of the river, will continue for about seven weeks.
The material will be moved by barge to Point Grey for disposal.
Work will resume after the freshet in July and is expected to continue until November.
The $10 million project is collaboration between Port Metro Vancouver, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, the Corporation of Delta and the City of Richmond.
The project is also supposed to include funds for maintenance dredging of the secondary channels for up to the next 10 years.
