Section 204 Beneficial Use of Dredged Materials
Section 204 of the Water Resources Development Act of 1992

What the Corps of Engineers Can Do:
The Corps of Engineers can create aquatic and wetland habitats in connection with construction or maintenance dredging of an authorized Federal navigation project. In the Rock Island District this authority applies only to the Mississippi River and Illinois Waterway.

Charges for Assistance:
All project planning costs are 100% federally funded. Design and construction costs are cost shared 65% Federal and 35% non-Federal. The Federal cost limit is $5,000,000. The non-Federal sponsor cost share can be a contribution of cash or Lands, Easements, Rights-of-way, Relocations, and Disposal areas (LERRDs). No work-in-kind is allowed. Only the increased cost above the cost of the planned dredge disposal that would have been implemented without ecosystem restoration (referred to as the base plan) is cost shared. The sponsor pays 35% of the project costs above the base plan in a Section 204 project.

Responsibility of Project Sponsor:
Formal assurance in the form of a Project Partnership Agreement must be executed with the project sponsor. The project sponsor must normally agree to the following:

  • Provide without cost to the United States all Lands, Easements, Rights-of-way, Relocations, and Disposal areas (LERRDs) necessary for the construction and subsequent maintenance of the project.
  • Maintain and operate the project after completion without cost to the United States.
  • Assume responsibility for all costs in excess of the Federal cost limitation of $5,000,000.
  • If the value of the sponsor’s land contribution above does not equal or exceed 35 percent of the project cost, provide cash or work-in-kind contributions to make the sponsor’s total contribution equal to 35 percent.

How to Request Assistance:
An ecosystem restoration project under Section 204 can be initiated upon receipt of a request from a prospective project sponsor.

Section 204 project requests should be directed to (309) 794-5853 or email cemvr-outreach-web@usace.army.mil.

USACE site visit assessment at potential project site

Section 204 of the Water Resources Development Act of 1992, as amended, provides authority for the Corps of Engineers to restore, protect, and create aquatic and wetland habitats in connection with construction or maintenance dredging of an authorized Federal navigation project.