With grant money from the Lake Champlain Basin Program, and planning and coordination by BRASS, an old problem of sediment drainage to the lake may be under control. It's a problem of multiple jurisdictions, old infrastructure, and construction being allowed over underground drains. The result: a large pile of sediment and sand in Lake Champlain at the Essex Shipyard Marina. The sediment pile of over 10 cubic yards was so large a marina slip could not be rented to boaters.
The problem is probably typical of many small towns on the lake. Storm drains along main roads were buried many years ago to remove run-off quickly for road safety. Many of these drains were joined together at catchments, then a single underground pipe carried everything to the lake. The "catchments" were not sized to catch or hold anything; they merely channeled run-off from multiple drains into a single one, then to a river or lake outlet .
Often people forgot where storm drains were located, or which ones were linked into which catchments. So, buildings or extensions of buildings were sometimes permitted over the buried drains.
County Route 9 runs through the main part of the hamlet of Essex. The County's catchments link underground storm drains from many town streets in Essex. The catchment near the Essex Shipyard Marina along Route 9 was small. During storms when sediment was eroded from properties, or during warm winter/spring days when snow melted and winter road sand was flushed into drains, significant quantities of sand and sediment were flushed into the lake along with water. Since a marina building was built over the drain at the lakeside, no filtering screen or catchment was possible at the lake. Therefore, the BRASS grant paid for a new, larger pre-cast concrete catchment basin on Route 9.
Note size of old catchment basin compared to new pre-cast basin being installed.
The County Department of Public Works contributed by taking out the old basin and installing the new.
Note the nearly 3-feet of depth below the storm drain for sediment accumulation.
BRASS then secured a NYSDEC permit and contracted with Essex resident Skip Yocum (Compact Excavation) to remove the sediment pile in the marina. It was not an easy task. The excavator had to be small to fit under the steel girders used to lift out boats, light enough not to destroy the log cribbing and planked boardwalk, have a 360 degree turn to carry removed sediment into a truck lined with filter fabric, yet have a large enough reach to clean out the accumulated sediments.
With yearly clean-out of the new catchment basin, BRASS hopes the marina slip can become used again and that the lake is cleaner because of the effort.