Browns Lake dredging could impact boaters and other users for two summer seasons

Posted on February 26, 2024

TOWN OF BURLINGTON — State regulators have approved plans for dredging Browns Lake, in a project that could cost $7 million and impact the lake for two years.

Officials of the Browns Lake Sanitary District are preparing to solicit contractor bids for the job of excavating more than 500,000 tons of sediment.

Buildup on the lake bottom has created water-quality concerns involving phosphorous and other pollutants, especially during late summer when water depths tend to drop.

Officials in the neighboring City of Burlington are watching the project as a possible harbinger of things to come for the city’s dredging effort at Echo Lake.

The sanitary district, which manages Browns Lake, has laid out a plan for dredging more than 100 acres, while pumping an average of 5,000 gallons of discharge per minute eastward to a dumpsite along State Highway 36.

The consulting firm of Berrini & Associates has outlined a strategy that would require two summer seasons to complete. Planners originally intended to start the dredging this spring, but they now say the project will not start before 2025.

Officials are still considering how to pay for the dredging, as well as how much the work will disrupt summer boating, fishing and other activities. The lake is home to weekly shows by the Aquaducks water-skiing team.

Paul Naber, chairman of the sanitary district board of commissioners, said officials have not yet fully assessed the cleanup effort’s impact on recreational lake users.

“We’re looking into that,” he said.

Claude Lois, another board member, said that although the project has been under discussion for two years, it is not ready to go forward in 2024.

“There’s a bunch of things we just don’t know,” Lois said. “It takes a while to put all of this together.”

Burlington City Council members on Feb. 6 discussed the need for an updated forecast on Echo Lake dredging costs, after consultants three years ago set the figure at $2.5 million. Officials cited the Browns Lake project as perhaps a good indicator.

“It’s a great real-world example in our backyard,” said Alderman Jon Schultz, president of the Burlington council.

Echo Lake covers 70 acres and is expected to produce 115,231 cubic yards of dredging waste, equivalent to 161,000 tons. Browns Lake covers 397 acres and is expected to produce 379,611 cubic yards, or 531,000 tons.

Echo Lake is a city-funded project, whereas Browns Lake homeowners in the 1970s created the sanitary district, which receives property taxes from lakeside property owners and has the authority to borrow money.

Lois said he and his colleagues have discussed seeking state funding, grants and other sources of financial support to pay for the dredging.

“We’re looking at anything we can,” he said.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources in December approved a permit for the Browns Lake dredging after about two years of discussion and analysis.

Hydraulic dredging would remove sediment from the lake bottom on the eastern, northern and southern shores and pump it through a pipeline along Durand Avenue to a disposal site about a mile east.

As the sludge dries, excess water would be pumped back to the lake.

In addition to the 10-acre disposal site to the east, the plan states, “There is also adjacent land that can be utilized for spreading the dewatered sediment for final placement and stabilization.”

In Photos: Browns Lake Aquaducks weekly show

Brows Lake Aquaducks

The Browns Lake Aquaducks perform weekly professional-style water skiing shows at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday nights at Fischer Park on Durand Avenue in the Town of Burlington. A junior show precedes the main event at 5 p.m. that are free to the public. There will also be special weekend shows on Labor Day weekend at 6 p.m Saturday, Aug. 31 and Sunday, Sept. 1. The junior show is at 4:30 p.m. on those days.

Photos are from the Aquaducks’ Venetian Night show, Saturday, July 6, 2019.

Browns Lake Aquaducks