Town Preparing To Dredge Polpis Harbor And Hither Creek

The town is preparing to dredge Polpis Harbor and Hither Creek, moving over 10,000 cubic yards of sand in an effort to keep both channels clear for navigation.

Both bodies of water are dredged occasionally to ensure that both recreational and commercial boats can continue to pass through, and Massachusetts has historically approved the projects, which require state-level permitting. The project is also intended to improve tidal flushing and maintain access to public boat ramps, landings, mooring fields, and shellfish areas. The town is also planning for 10 years of maintenance dredging after the initial effort.

According to an Environmental Notification Form document filed by Arcadis, the town’s consultants for the project, Polpis Harbor was most recently dredged in 2017, and Hither Creek hasn’t been dredged since the channel was relocated in 1985. The ENF document was submitted to the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs earlier this year. 

The documents submitted by Arcadis also suggest that the town is looking to store the sand dredged from the bottom of the Polpis Harbor and Hither Creek in upland sand banks on-island, where it can be used as needed in the future. This is the approach the town has used in the past.

“Rather than immediate beneficial re-use, the sand bank approach has allowed the town to stockpile high-quality dredged sand for future coastal resiliency and nourishment projects, subject to separate regulatory review and approval,” one report reads in part.

While the project is not unprecedented, it is quite extensive and will likely take a significant amount of work to complete.