Creek's future in San Rafael needs a plan

San Rafael Creek is supposed to be dredged every six to eight years, but in recent decades it has taken so long to win federal funding for the job that the city is lucky to see a full cleaning of the canal's silt every 20 years.

Property owners along the canal will pay for dredging needed to get from their boat docks to the dredged channel as part of the project.

The delay allows for a buildup of more sediment, carried by drainage into the canal and tidal action, that becomes a barrier to the free flow of boat traffic.

The last time the creek was dredged was 2011, but that was a partial project because of questions regarding disposal of contaminated soil found in the spoils. Since then, sediment has built up to levels that leave areas as shallow as only two feet deep.

“The channel is rapidly becoming unusable because it is so silted in,” said Rep. Jared Huffman, who advanced the strong support for dredging by local business owners, residents and elected officials to include $6.75 million in federal funding in a spending bill signed by President Joe Biden.

The work, which hopefully will begin this summer, will include dredging the canal to a depth of 6 feet from the Grand Avenue turning basin to Pickleweed Park and to 8 feet from the park to the outlet to San Pablo Bay.

While regular dredging of the creek and maintenance of other public waterways should be on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to-do list and budget, it has taken political pressure to keep the corps on a schedule.

The problem is that the longer the work is delayed, the more the job costs, not in terms of having to dredge more material, but the economic toll on businesses that, such as marinas and boat-related businesses, rely on those waterways.

Property owners along the canal will pay for dredging needed to get from their boat docks to the dredged channel as part of the project.

The city estimates that nearly 2,000 boats rely on the channel to reach the bay.

The buildup of sediment also reduces the creek's holding capacity and raises the risk of flooding. Seven of the city's stormwater pump stations flow into the canal in order to prevent flooding.

The corps is still not done with its planning work for San Rafael Creek contaminants that may require that they be transported to a hazardous waste site — a process that could add to its cost.

But Huffman is confident the project will proceed.

“I hope next time we dredge, it will be a privatepublic partnership that doesn't take 20 years to happen,” he said.

We agree.