Shallow situation: For boaters on Neabsco Creek, the season ended before it began

WOODBRIDGE — The U.S. Coast Guard declared Neabsco Creek unnavigable.

This means that both private and commercial boats are discouraged from using the waterway in Woodbridge, which connects to the Potomac River.

The Coast Guard removed four navigational aids that mark the channel and replaced them with two white signs showing a danger warning to boaters to keep out of the creek.

This has Terry Hill, owner of Hampton’s Landing Marina on the Neabsco Creek, working to rally support to replace the navigational aids. He says that with them gone, it will deter people from using his marina, as well as two others along the creek, according to a statement on Hampton’s Landing Marina Facebook page.

U.S Coast Guard spokeswoman Lt. Amanda Faulkner said the aids were removed from their pylons because crews setting up for the summer boating season found that there were only three feet of water at the entrance toNeabsco Creek. There should be at least six feet of water for a navigable channel, she added.

“We found significant shoaling in the creek bed,” she said.

That shoaling is from sediment deposits built up over time which can come from storm runoff, and from winds that frequently push sediment away from Maryland and onto the Virginia side of the Potomac River.

The sediment is also why the Town of Quantico has a municipal dock that cannot be accessed by boat. 

The Neabsco Creek channel was last dredged in 1998 at a cost of $520,000. About 30,000 cubic yards of sediment was removed along the shoreline at Leesylvania State Park.

Four other dredging operations removed 14,000 cubic yards of sediment since then. The marinas are required to dredge every four years, adds Hill.

He’s sounding the alarm bells because the summer boating season is about to get underway. Hill says it won’t only be marinas affected, but also a canvas and upholstery shop, boat service bays and sales, a salvage shop, and a kayak rental will also see a decline in business.

He also points out that neighboring E-Z Cruz Marina operates the is the only 24-hour fuel pump on the Potomac River between Stafford County and Washington, D.C. It’s used by emergency services, like OWL Volunteer Fire Department fireboat which is moored at Hampton’s Landing.

Faulkner said the pylons holding the danger signs will be removed in the next three to six months leaving a once busy waterway once devoid of watermen and pleasure boaters.

That’s unless the Army Corps of Engineers — which is headed to the creek on April 16 to study the creek — can find another area at least six feet deep that would support a new channel, said Faulkner.

Once they’re done, and it a new channel is found, it could take three to six months before the Coast Guard could be back to the creek to install new navigational aids. That team works the waters of the entire eastern coast of Virginia, she adds.

There’s also an ongoing of the creek underway which would allow the local government to take over the responsibilities of making sure the creek is navigable.

Hill rallied friends, boaters, and fellow business owners to speak about the issue at the Prince William County Board of Supervisors meeting on April 10.