West Fork Dredging Placement Area Filling Up

6/21/25 – Callan Marine’s San Jacinto West Fork dredging placement area near Luce Bayou is filling up…rather quickly. The City of Houston began its most recent dredging program with Callan on December 20, 2024 – six months ago. The goal: to move 800,000 cubic yards of sediment out of the river near the headwaters of Lake Houston.

*Position of dredge on Saturday, 6/21/2025 on West Fork. Looking N toward Royal Shores visible near top of frame on East Fork.*

*Looking south toward FM1960 bridge at top of frame.*

From here, Callan pumps the sediment approximately 3.8 miles across the East Fork and up Luce Bayou to a placement area near the Interbasin Transfer Canal.

dredging map — *Route of 18-inch dredge pipe to placement area.*

West Fork Dredging Placement Area Filling Up Quickly

To hold the sediment, Callan built a placement area approximately 300,000 square yards by 8 feet deep. That magically works out to (drum roll please) about 800,000 cubic yards!

After removing trees, Callan scraped dirt into a series of berms with a series of internal dikes that force sediment-laden water through a maze. The circuitous route slows water down and allows sediment to settle out of suspension before Callan returns clearer water to Lake Houston.

This afternoon, that maze looked like this.

*Luce Interbasin Transfer Canal on lower left. Placement area is more than a half mile long and three football fields wide.*

Glare on the water partially masks the depth of sediment, but it’s more visible from a steeper, closer angle.

*From the air, it appeared that sediment/water mixture reached within a foot or two of the enclosure’s outer walls.*

*Reverse angle shows proximity to Lake Houston in background.*

*Closer shot shows miniature river delta forming as water seeks its way through the maze. Note height of water relative to height of outer berms in upper left.*

*Water shooting into placement area through 18 inch pipe.*

To put the size of that pipe in perspective, a basketball is 9.5 inches in diameter. So, two could almost fit side by side in the pipe.

*Outfall back to Luce Bayou and Lake Houston*

This job was originally scheduled for a year and the dredge has been pumping for six months so far. At this rate, they may finish early.

Volume Shows Importance of Dredging District

The amount of sediment moved to the West Fork dredging placement area in six months underscores how important the passage of Charles Cunningham’s Dredging District bill was this year.

This has been a wet spring and more sediment keeps moving downriver every day. And we’re still playing catch up with past neglect.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 6/21/25

2853 Days since Hurricane Harvey