LOUISVILLE, Ky. —

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is pushing back against a viral video that accused the agency of dumping raw sewage into the Ohio River, saying the discolored, odorous water seen at a disposal site is sediment and decaying plant material stirred up by routine dredging, not sewage.

The Corps is required to maintain a safe navigation channel on the Ohio River, including at the McAlpine Lock and Dam — one of the nation’s top 10 hubs for commodity traffic — by keeping depths at about 12 feet so larger ships and barges can pass.

“If it’s less than nine feet, is when we have to come in with the hydraulic dredge and lower it back down to the correct depth,” said Jim Scherzinger, the project manager for the dredge program.

“The river deposits sediment in certain areas that c

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