The GIWW transports 100 million tons of goods annually. It links Texas ports to U.S. and international destinations. Barges travel through the GIWW into ports like Houston. A role of the Committee is to find environmentally and economically acceptable dredge disposal sites. Finding these sites is difficult because many people oppose having dredged materials placed on their land.
Potential sites become uneconomical if dredged material has to be transported too far.
So far, the Committee has identified and acquired roughly 1,800 acres of upland sites that could be used for disposal of dredged material, but as many as 3,000 more acres could be needed. Erosion control is also needed. A section of the GIWW at Sergeant Beach near Freeport suffers from as much as 36 feet of erosion each year. If the erosion continues, waters from the Gulf could enter the GIWW, make navigation difficult, and close traffic south of that point. In response, the Corps engineered and will construct a 7-mile stone and concrete seawall to stabilize the shoreline.