Dredging Operations

the deepening and widening of reservoirs and water courses by excavation (dredging). A distinction is made between capital dredging operations, which are performed during the construction of hydraulic-engineering projects and for the improvement of navigation conditions on waterways, and maintenance dredging operations, which are conducted annually for the removal of debris that disrupts the normal use of hydraulic-engineering structures and navigation routes. The greatest volume of dredging work is done on inland waterways (rivers, reservoirs, and channels), where dredging is used to increase the depth and width of shipping lanes. Seaports and river ports are dredged in order to deepen and widen their water areas to provide mooring access for loaded vessels. Dredging is used for the removal of silt and mud in channel and lake reclamation. It is performed to deepen water-supply canals to individual industrial enterprises and the bottom of water intake works, for the excavation of underwater trenches, and the laying of pipelines and cables.

Dredging is performed mainly by dredging vessels, or dredgers. Dredging of rocky bottoms is usually done by blasting operations.