Mouth of the San Bernard River
|
This was the mouth of the San Bernard
flowing to the Gulf in 2002 |
This is the mouth of the San Bernard
today – March 2006 |
- The mouth of the San Bernard River is closed by a ridge of sand built up
by currents from the Brazos River mouth.
- The sandbar has completely stopped the flow of water to and from the
Gulf.
- As of January 2006, one must walk 300 yards on nice sand to reach the
Gulf. All water flowing down the San Bernard River goes into the
Intracoastal Canal and Cedar Lakes.
- The sandbar grew at a rate of 1.6’ further to the southwest every day
until it closed completely in late January 2006.
You can read all about the cause
in the "U.S. Corps of Engineers Study of the San Bernard River
Mouth", dated August 2002. This is a 5 MB PDF file! Extremely
interesting with many graphics.
Click here.
Status of the Mouth after
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita
-
Before Hurricane
Katrina, the mouth had migrated 2-1/4 miles to the
southwest since 1992.
-
After Hurricane
Katrina, the mouth moved almost 1/4 mile further to the
southwest.
-
After Hurricane Rita,
the mouth moved more than 1/4 mile further to the
southwest.
-
The mouth has,
therefore, moved 3 miles to the southwest.
- Even if the sandbar is removed, the problem will
continue.
How Does Water
Now Get Out of the San Bernard River?
Water now gets out of the river by way of the
Intracoastal Waterway (ICW). Tides still come in by way of the Intracoastal
which has many outlets to the sea, including the Brazos River. The picture above shows the Intracoastal Waterway, the Brazos and the Mouth.
I've learned that some people aren't really aware
of how the Intracoastal is involved. Here is a map: The SB River is shown in
yellow. You can see the Intracoastal Canal running along just inside the coast.
So now the river flows into the Intracoastal which is open to the sea here and
yon all along
the way from Corpus to Florida. The river coming down next to Bryan
Beach State Park is the Brazos that has dumped all it's sand at the mouth of the
San Bernard.
What's Next?
- Before the
Corp of Engineers will consider a permit application to
open the mouth, we must have a comprehensive impact
study to include individual studies on ecology, economy,
commercial interests, commercial and recreational
navigation, hydronamics, siltation, flow patterns,
marine migration, water quality, dune management, and
just about anything else that would be affected by the
removal of the sand plug - including the quality of the
sand, disposal of the sand, etc. This study is estimated to cost
approximately $250,000 and take 12 to 18 months to complete.
- Brazoria County will be getting approximately $2.2
million from the
Coastal Impact Assistance Amendment to
the Energy Policy Act of 2005, and it is hoped and
believed that Brazoria County will fund the necessary
for the comprehensive study of the mouth.
- After the
study is done, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will
work with the Brazoria Shoreline Restoration Task Force
to write the application for a permit to open the mouth.
- The application will then be submitted to the Corps of
Engineers District Office in Galveston.
- The Corps
will study the application (usually about 120 days)
- If the Corps finds that the
cost to benefit ratio is within their parameters, they
will issue a permit to remove the sand.
- When Brazoria County has the
approved permit, it must entertain bids for the dredging
projects as outlined in the Corps project. Then Brazoria
Co. must find between $5-8 million to fund the dredging--this
will need to be partly Federal funds.
As soon as the winning contractor moves his dredging
equipment and his sand removal equipment into place, we
can start the project.
It will be a while.....
There
is another option at this point:
-
After we get the
permit from the Corp, the County (and other political entities) may choose to
short circuit the Corps of Engineers and dredge the river themselves. If we
get federal dollars, and continued county support, and maybe GLO money, then
it is possible. In this case, we could get the mouth open in one year or so after the permit part is done.
One
Long Term Solution
-
Beaches along
the Gulf Coast suffer on-going erosion and require regular re‑nourishment.
The San Bernard River mouth has a large and on‑going supply of high-quality
beach sand.
-
With a cooperative effort from GLO,
Galveston, Brazoria and Matagorda counties, it is possible, with Federal
assistance, to:
Will it Happen?
- The quick
answer is that no one knows. At this time a very rough
estimate of the cost to open the mouth is $5 to
$8 million. Federal money is very tight now--especially
since Hurricane Katrina.
- All of our
elected representatives at the county, state and federal
level are in full support of opening the mouth. It's a
matter of time, priorities, and money.
- It's up to
us to keep the issue fresh in the minds of our elected
officials. It's very important that we work within the
system--writing letters, or sending email. We must find
that balance of writing letters to keep the issue fresh,
but not being such a nuisance that we become an
annoyance. We want positive attention.
- Our elected
officials are all listed on this web, with addresses and
email in some cases. Click the Government tab at the top
of this page, or click
here.
Location
Map
-
One project being discussed
lately to open the Mouth is a cooperative project
among coastal groups, and three coastal counties, GLO, and the Federal
government to dredge the mouth open, build a sand trap on the Brazos side,
and harvest the sand each year for beaches in need in our area.
-
It is a win-win for the
economy, for recreation, and for the environment in multiple counties.
-
It will save a dying river on
which thousands live and thousands more fish, ski and play.
-
Due to the cooperative effort
and the long-term solution for all, it is a worthy project for our limited
Federal funds.
-
There are no losers in this
project.
-
The project could take on many different
looks before it's all said and done.
Studies of the Mouth and other resources,
Click
Mouth Resources