Section

[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 33, Volume 3]
[Revised as of July 1, 2001]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 33CFR209.325]

[Page 147-151]

TITLE 33--NAVIGATION AND NAVIGABLE WATERS

CHAPTER II--CORPS OF ENGINEERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY

PART 209--ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURE--Table of Contents

Sec. 209.325 Navigation lights, aids to navigation, navigation charts, and related data policy, practices and procedure.

(a) Purpose. This regulation prescribes the policy, practice and
procedure to be used by all Corps of Engineers installations and
activities in connection with aids to navigation, chart data, and
publication of information on Civil Works activities.
(b) This regulation will be applied by all elements of the Corps of
Engineers with Civil Works responsibilities.
(c) Reference. Public Law 85-480, Publication Authority (72 Stat.
279).
(d) Cooperation with Coast Guard. (1) District Engineers will
consult with the Coast Guard District Commander during design of channel
and harbor improvement projects to discuss the aids to navigation
requirements and all other facets of the projects that involve Coast
Guard responsibility. Project material furnished direct to Coast Guard
Commanders will include:
(i) Information as to the authorization by Congress of a project
involving changes affecting aids, such as channel limits, breakwaters,
including a copy of the project document;
(ii) The proposed operations on such projects during the next fiscal
year, to be furnished annually on the release of the budget estimates;
(iii) Plans showing the final location of the channel limits or
structures to be furnished at the time work is undertaken.
(2) Changes in channel limits affecting navigation aids, made under
general or specific provisions of the law, should be made the subject of
a conference with the Coast Guard District Commander. He will be
promptly informed as to the approval of such changes and the probable
date of completion of the work.
(3) District Engineers will furnish direct to the various Coast
Guard District Commanders, for their immediate information, any facts
which may come to their attention in connection with their duties which
will be of benefit to the Coast Guard in maintaining its system of aids
to navigation. This should include statements as to the displacement of
or defects in any such aids to navigation.
(4) If work involving harbor or channel improvements directly
affects any existing aids to navigation or any structures of the Coast
Guard, Districts Engineers will, when practicable, give notice to the
Coast Guard District Commander sufficiently in advance to permit taking
such steps as may be deemed necessary by the Coast Guard. If the Coast
Guard District Commander specifically requests that the affected
structure be replaced, the District Engineer will inform him of the
estimated cost and will proceed with the work if so authorized by the
Chief of Engineers. On completion of the work, the

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District Engineer will promptly furnish the Coast Guard District
Commander, for settlement, an account of the expense incurred.
(e) Navigation Aids of the Corps of Engineers. (1) Whenever channel
dredging or other channel improvements are being performed, necessary
temporary markers, such as ranges and light poles, should be installed
and maintained by the District Engineer pending the installation of
permanent aids by the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard desires that
information regarding aids to navigation installed or maintained by
District Engineers in connection with harbor or channel improvement be
furnished promptly. Such information is needed for inclusion in Notice
to Mariners as published by the Coast Guard, and where desirable on the
charts of the waters concerned.
(2) District Engineers will notify the Coast Guard District
Commander in every case where aids to navigation for marking works of
harbor or channel improvements are established or discontinued. Notice
should be given of such aids as may be of use or interest to general
navigation. Notice need not be given as to such buoys, lights, or fog
signals as are of temporary or unimportant character, or of importance
only to the Corps of Engineers. Omit also lights or fog signals on ferry
slips and on piers used only by certain vessels, and stakes, bushes, and
barrel buoys marking shallow and little-used channels.
(3) In placing aids to navigation in connection with harbor or
channel improvement works, District Engineers should see that they do
not conflict in character or otherwise with other aids to navigation in
the vicinity. District Engineers should confer with the Coast Guard
District Commander on this subject.
(4) The necessary blank forms for reporting information regarding
Corps of Engineers aids will be furnished upon request by the Coast
Guard District Commander.
(5) It is essential that the Coast Guard by furnished with
information for publication concerning markers installed by the Corps of
Engineers as temporary aids to navigation, for new improvements, in
advance of permanent aids, and also concerning other markers that may be
established in connection with Corps of Engineers operations that may
also serve as important aids to navigation. Care will be exercised to
see that all markers established are not misleading to general
navigation and do not interfere with aids to navigation estabished by
the Coast Guard.
(f) Colors of dredging buoys established by Corps of Engineers. (1)
In order to distinguish buoys placed and maintained by the Corps of
Engineers for dredging purposes from aids to navigation placed by the
Coast Guard, Corps buoys will be painted white with the top 2 feet
painted light green.
(2) If buoys with special markings are needed to indicate the
different sides of the navigable channel, prior arrangements will be
made with the Coast Guard District Commander having jurisdiction.
(g) Information to be furnished by the Corps of Engineers. (1)
District Engineers responsible for harbors and waterways shown on charts
of the National Ocean Survey (NOAA), will report the channel conditions
promptly, using standard tabular forms, to:

Director, Defense Mapping Agency, ATTN: Hydrographic Center, Washington,
D.C. 20390.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, ATTN: National Ocean
Survey C-32, Rockville, Md. 20852.

Commandant and District Commanders, U.S. Coast Guard.

(2) Channel survey drawings furnished to the Coast Guard are to
include:
(i) Either NAD 27 or State Plane grids.
(ii) Plots of the positions of aids to navigation.
(iii) Written notations of the coordinates in NAD 27 or State Plane
Coordinates of the fixed aids to navigation found during the survey.
(3) The standard tabular forms with illustrated data follow:
(i) For channels 400 feet wide and greater (ENG Form 4020-R).
(ii) For channels 100 to 400 feet wide (ENG Form 4021-R).

[[Page 149]]

[________________ Harbor, ________________ (State)]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Project Minimum depths in channel
------------------------------ entering from seaward
-----------------------------
Mid-
Name of channel Date Left channel Right
survey Feet Miles Feet outside for half outside
width length depth quarter project quarter
feet width feet
feet
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kings Island Channel...................... 3-78 300 1.14 26 24 23 26
Whitehall Channel......................... 3-78 200 1.81 26 27 26 25
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ENG FORM 4021-R (Jul 59)
(iii) For channels less than 100 feet in width, report controlling
depths only based on at least 80 percent of project width, 40 percent on
either side of centerline. (The submission of tabular forms is not
required for channels having a project depth less than 10 feet except
coastal inlets and harbors of refuge.)
(4) The tabulations of depths should be amplified by footnotes or
otherwise to show clearly and definitely the location of controlling
shoals, tendency of shoals to recur, and all other critical information
of special value and importance for safe navigation of the channel.
Reaches of channel not presently named should be identified in the
tabular form by reference to chartered aids or features, or assigned
identifying names, numbers or letters. For localized irregular project
areas where the application of the tabular form would not be practical,
the controlling depth based on a safe navigable width will be described
as well as unusual or critical conditions of shoaling.
(5) The prompt dissemination of the latest detailed information
concerning channel conditions is of utmost importance, and necessary
measures will be taken to insure that such information is reported
without delay simultaneously to the U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office, the
Coast Guard, the National Ocean Survey and Defense Mapping Agency. When
a dangerous shoaling is found during the progress of a survey,
information thereon will be furnished immediately to the above-mentioned
agencies, so that such information may be made available to mariners
promptly, and buoys shifted to mark the shoal. Descriptions of any
dredging or other operations in important channels in tidal waters--
either in progress and not already reported, or soon to be undertaken--
together with a statement of the work and expected duration, will also
be reported in order that Naval and other vessels may be warned to look
out for dredges and other plant, temporary markers and lights.
(6) District Engineers having charge of improvements of harbors and
waterways shown on charts of the Defense Mapping Agency or of the
National Ocean Survey will send to both offices promptly, as ascertained
for the correction of such charts, the following information:
Descriptions of changes in channel location and depth, or of
obstructions that may be discovered, with such prints and other
information as may be necessary to permit the existing charts to be
corrected to date. All maps should contain sufficient data to permit the
fixed plane or reference, bench marks, base lines, etc., to be
determined and located. The survey stations should be shown and, when no
unreasonable expenditure of time or labor is involved, the map will show
one or more triangulation station(s) of the National Ocean Survey in
such a way as to facilitate connection of old or new work. The source of
authority for the shoreline and topography should be stated on the map.
The data supplied should indicate what charts are affected.
(7) When any survey of areas covered by charts of the Defense
Mapping Agency or the National Ocean Survey is completed, a print of
each tracing will be sent direct to both the Defense Mapping Agency and
the National Ocean Survey. It is not necessary that tracings be fully
complete as to form

[[Page 150]]

and title when such prints are made. An informal manuscript title marked
``Advance Sheets'', and containing a description sufficient to identify
the locality and to identify the source of the map, will be sufficient.
(8) Information relative to the improvement of harbors and waterways
such as dredging operations, and precautions rendered necessary due to
the presence of dredging or other plant will, when considered necessary,
be brought to the attention of vessel owners or operators regularly
using the waterway. This will be done through issuing bulletins or
notices by District Engineers.
(h) Special Reports. Changes affecting navigation will be made
promptly whenever information of immediate concern to navigation becomes
known. Items of information especially desired are channel conditions as
revealed by surveys, changes in channel conditions, either by natural
causes or by dredging or other work, changes in approved projects for
improvement with statements of results expected from proposed
operations, descriptions of proposed dredging or other Federal work of
improvement such as breakwater, pier, and revetment construction or
alterations, descriptions of proposed or completed municipal or private
improvements in or affecting navigable waters. Additional items of
information desired are descriptions of wrecks, uncharted shoals, and
other obstructions to navigation and particulars as to proposed or
completed removal of same, changes in buoys or lights, erection of new,
or changes in existing bridges, new or revised Federal or local rules
and regulations for harbors and channels, and establishment or existence
of danger areas in navigable waters. Reproductions of drawings or
sketches which will be helpful in interpreting the data shall accompany
the reports. The reports will not be limited to a reference to an
accompanying drawing or sketch, but will contain a complete description
in form suitable for publication in notices to mariners and the monthly
supplements to the U.S. Coast Pilot. In this respect, the reports will
provide enough information that a single notification to navigational
interests will suffice. In the case of dredging or construction work,
the bare statement that work will commence or has commenced on a certain
date is insufficient. All additional information possible, such as
probable duration of operations and object of work, will be given--the
latter in the case of dredging being such data as the area to be covered
and the depth expected to be provided. The reports required by this
paragraph will be identified by reference to the appropriate Engineer
Manual or regulation and will be numbered consecutively by each District
during the calendar year, starting with number 1 at the beginning of
each year.
(i) Information pamphlets, maps, brochures and other material. (1)
Pub. L. 85-480, approved 2 July 1958, authorizes the Chief of Engineers
to publish information pamphlets, maps, brochures, and other material on
river and harbor, flood control, and other Civil Works activities,
including related public park and recreation facilities under his
jurisdiction, as he may deem to be of value to the general public.
(2) This Public Law authorizes the Chief of Engineers to provide for
the sale of any of the material prepared under authority of the act--and
of publications, charts, or other material prepared under his direction
pursuant to other legislative authorization or appropriation, and to
charge therefor a sum of not less than the cost of reproduction.
(3) District Engineers are authorized to publish the material
covered in paragraph 8a above, and to sell such material. Except for
material specifically prepared for free distribution to the general
public, the charges for such other published information will be not
less than the cost of its reproduction.
(4) Condition survey maps or charts, sold or otherwise distributed
to the public, showing depths will specifically state the date or dates
that the surveys were made. They shall also have the following notation
printed or stamped thereon:
``The information depicted on this map represents the results of
surveys made on the dates indicated and can only be considered as
indicating the

[[Page 151]]

general conditions existing at that time.''

[43 FR 19661, May 8, 1978]