In a milestone for river navigation and local resource management, the Wabasha Port Authority and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, have started full-scale operations under a historic Section 217 agreement, actively transferring thousands of cubic yards of dredged Mississippi River sand to long-term beneficial reuse sites.
The initiative represents the nation’s first Section 217 inland water partnership under the Water Resources Development Act. Under the agreement, rather than the federal government executing costly, conventional long-distance transport contracts, USACE pays the city a negotiated “tipping fee” to take charge of the sand removed during channel maintenance operations.
According to USACE, this novel approach transforms a perennial dredging challenge into an economic and community development asset.
Every year, the St. Paul District dredges approximately 250,000 cubic yards of sand from the Mississippi River Lower Pool 4 and the surrounding Wabasha reaches - accounting for roughly a quarter of the entire district’s annual navigation dredging requirements.
Maintaining the congressionally authorized 9-foot channel is vital for commercial barge traffic carrying Upper Midwest agricultural exports such as soybeans and corn, as well as critical bulk commodities like fertilizer and road salt, USACE concluded.