3 days ago
Choppy waves delay South Haven channel dredging
SOUTH HAVEN, Mich. (WOOD) — Lower water levels and a buildup of sand is clogging the Lake Michigan channel in and out of South Haven, making it difficult for some bigger sailboats and powerboats to get in and out.
While clearing it out is usually the job of the feds, the city couldn't wait. It's paying to dredge the channel itself at a cost of $72,000. It's kind of like using Drano while waiting for the plumber.
City officials say the sand and sediment has built up on the north side of the South Haven pier, where the Black River empties into Lake Michigan. Instead of 14 to 16 feet deep, it's closer to 7 or 8.
'Every year, there's a bar that gets built up in front of the pierhead and when the water's too low, it will make it too low for sailboats or bigger powerboats to get out, and if there's waves, they'll come up and come down and crash into it,' said Jake Pero, owner of Pero Marine Construction, which got the contract to dredge the blockage.
Lake Michigan Summer Beach Guide
While it hasn't stopped smaller boats, it has blocked some bigger watercraft, including the popular sloop, Friends Good Will — especially when the water is rough, like it was Monday.
'As people are not able to enter into our ports, go to our shops, dock at our facilities and be a part of the economic culture that is South Haven, that impacts a lot of the day-to-day, that impacts the businesses here in town and there is really a snowball effect that occurs due to it,' said Assistant City Manager Michael Landis, who also serves as the harbor master.
Friends Good Will, part of the Michigan Maritime Museum, was forced to cancel tours this spring from South Haven to Holland for Tulip Time. Last week, the museum paid to dredge around its dock on the Black River, allowing the boat to run during calmer weather this past weekend.
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Usually, clearing the channel is the job of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which last dredged it in 2023. The Corps of Engineers was expecting to start dredging in St. Joseph starting Monday night and in Grand Haven next week, said agency spokesman Brandon Hubbard. But it's not scheduled to dredge again in South Haven until next year at a cost of $1.7 million, Hubbard said.
So the city got an emergency permit. South Haven-based Pero Marine Construction had hoped to get started Monday, scooping out about 500 cubic yards — enough to fill the beds of 250 pickup trucks — over several days. But the water was too rough to get started. It's not clear when the work will begin.
'It's such a crisis with low water everywhere that they're just trying to do something to alleviate it enough that summer can go on and people don't have to be concerned, and it's not a liability,' Pero said. 'We're going to help them out until the big guys can get there.'
The sand will be used to build up South Beach.
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