City raises $4.5M for Schuylkill River dredging project

A new plan to dredge the Schuylkill River and make it more navigable for—among other things—major regattas, just got a $4.5 million boost.

The mayor’s office announced the funding Wednesday, saying the money will go toward dredging the Schuylkill near Boathouse Row.

“Dredging is a process by which silt deposits are excavated from the bottom of a body of water to make it more navigable,” the statement from the mayor’s office explained. It’s been 20 years since that section of the Schuylkill was dredged.

Major universities in and around Philly, including Drexel, Jefferson, UPenn, and Villanova helped contribute the money to fund the dredging plan, along with city and state funding the statement said. Regattas on the river all through the spring and summer, and the Schuylkill Navy has been working to get that portion of the river dredged for years.

The U.S. Army Corps will take on the dredging project, bringing around 60,000 cubic yards of material to the Fairmount Dam, where it will then be taken downstream to the Fort Mifflin Confined Disposal Facility, according to PlanPhilly. Work will start in August and finish by the end of the year, the news site wrote.