A nine-million dollar dredging project is now underway on Clear Lake that will improve water quality and deepen several areas for recreational boat traffic on the popular body of water. Scott Grummer, a fisheries biologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says dredge operators are pumping sediment out and into a containment site.
After several delays, Grummer says it’s nice to finally get the project underway. He says it’s good to get all the ground work finally get put in motion to help in the Clear Lake restoration effort after years of planning.
Grummer says it took a few months for L.W. Matteson Incorporated of Burlington to get the project set up. He says they had to bring equipment in piece-by-piece and then fitted together on-site, with the wet weather at times hampering the preparation.
Grummer says the dredging is starting near the Lynne Lorenzen Access in Ventura and will eventually move out further in the lake. He says they are improving the depths along the travel lane out from the boat ramp to the lake and will soon be moving out to the "little lake" area. The project will remove two-point-three million cubic yards of sediment to increase the water depth of the lake from six feet to 24 feet in an attempt to improve the water quality. It’s scheduled to be completed during the open water season of 2009.