MOBILE COUNTY, Ala. (WKRG) — Every year, tons of sediment are dredged out of Mobile’s waterways to keep the channels navigable. A lot of it ends up stockpiled or disposed of. Now, some of that mud is getting a second purpose.
Man arrested in connection with November shooting death on Mott Road
“So this is a really innovative solution so that we can use our native soil that’s in our navigation channel, that native sediment that’s coming down the rivers,” explained Valerie Morrow with the Mobile District Operations division. “If we didn’t use it in innovative ways, then we are just losing capacity in our placement areas by not using the material in innovative ways. So, we are excited about this project because it provides us an opportunity to use that fine-grained sediment.”
For the first time in the region, dredge sediment from the Mobile River is being used to make 3D printed artificial reefs. The research was designed by US Army Corps engineers and printed at the Army Engineering Research and Development Center in Vicksburg, Miss.
Al Kennedy is a scientist for the US Army Corps Research, and he works hands-on with the 3-D printer and designs for the reefs…