Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, Part I
Silt: What is it, and Why do we care?
A three-part series
Preface
Hello, Fellow Friends of Robinson Park!
A major part of our mission is to educate neighbors and interested parties on subject matter that is of specific concern to Robinson Park and the proposed “Wetland Enhancement Project.” We are committed to providing you with independent, expert third-party guidance from reputable sources, and we share these resources along with our interpretation to support your self-education in determining how these matters will impact your lifestyle, property values, children, and pets as you enjoy the Park.
We hope that you will feel free to forward this message, and all of our correspondence, to your friends and neighbors who may similarly benefit from this information and invite them to join our mailing list.
This is Part 1 of 3; to read the other articles in this series, please use the links below. In this episode, we’re going to talk about silt, and we’ve selected AC/DC’s 1976 hit, “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap,” as the theme song to underscore this series.
Part I: Dirty Deeds
On January 24, 2024, State Representative Napoleon Nelson issued a press release announcing the acquisition of funding to support the Robinson Park Wetland Enhancement Project. That press release, linked below, also discloses that the proposed Project will “filter runoff to prevent up to 13 tons of sediment from discharging annually to Tookany Creek and downstream to the Delaware Bay.”
So, what exactly is silt? From National Geographic, “Silt is a solid, dust-like sediment that water, ice, and wind transport and deposit. Silt is made up of rock and mineral particles that are larger than clay but smaller than sand.”
When questioned at the Township meeting at Curtis Hall on June 11, 2024, consultants with Gannett Fleming (the engineering firm hired by the Township to manage the Project) were unable to respond with substantive information when members of the community voiced their concerns about the (conservatively estimated) 13 tons of silt that will be annually discharged to Robinson Park, in perpetuity, with no mitigation plan in place.
This caused us to wonder what 13 tons of silt actually looks like, and what hidden threats in the form of toxic chemicals, heavy metals, and carcinogens from upstream might lurk within.
Upon some investigation, we learned that a campsite in a South Jersey town nearby was having some dirt delivered. Our research showed that the consistency of the silt that would be funneled downhill into Robinson Park is very similar, so a member of our organization decided to take a quick video as a visual aid.
In the video below, you will see 25 tons of organic material – or, approximately 18 months’ worth of silt accumulation if Rep. Nelson’s estimation is correct – being dumped out of a tri-axel truck. We will allow you to draw your own conclusions about the repercussions of this quantity of additional organic material being imposed upon the pre-existing ecosystem.