ST. JOSEPH — Low river levels have shut down commercial docks along the St. Joseph River Harbor.

It happened after a barge trying to deliver sand and rock got stuck earlier this week.

In order to fix it, an emergency dredging needs to be declared.

Survey crews hit the water Thursday to measure the inner harbor. Measuring the water is just one of many steps needed to fix this problem.

“It’s 10.5 feet deep right here,” said Tom Creeden of the Army Corps of Engineers.

And the numbers kept dropping.

“I haven’t seen it this bad on this sheet right here,” Creeden showed WSBT News. “I mean there’s eight feet of water over there. That’s really bad.”

Especially when the depth in the inner harbor is supposed to be between 18 and 21 feet deep.

The shallow water stops commercial ships from getting through. That problem gets passed down to dock owners like Pete Berghoff.

“I’ve been out of stone twice in three years because of the harbor draft or harbor issues, and it’s life blood to me,” he said.

To fix the problem immediately, the Army Corps of Engineers must declare an emergency dredging.

But before that can happen, a survey crew has to measure the water. They do this by using GPS and a device called a sounder.

“You can get the volumes, how much material is here that needs to be dredged, how deep it is, all that with this [sounder],” Creeden explained.

This is one of several steps needed to declare an emergency dredging. The Army Corps of Engineers say the entire process could take several weeks.

“But if we can get everything going and all the ducks lined in a row, we can probably be out there before the end of April,” said Tom O’Bryan with the Army Corps of Engineers.

“But you know they haven’t started dredging yet, it’s all talk right now,” Berghoff said. “Until I see a unit out there in the harbor digging, I’m holding my breath.”

An emergency dredging is only a temporary fix. The Army Corps of Engineers says a permanent solution would be to dredge the inner harbor every year.

But to do that they must find a permanent place to dump the dredging materials. They say that's the biggest problem they face right now.