Posted on May 30, 2016
By Allison Petty, herald-review.com
The $91 million Lake Decatur dredging project will reach a crucial phase this season, broadening its scope and likely drawing more residents’ attention.
Crews for Great Lakes Dredge & Dock, the city’s contractor on the six-year job, will work simultaneously in two areas: Big Creek and Sand Creek. These areas have accumulated a large amount of sediment over time, making them more shallow; they are the same sites that became hard and parched during the drought in 2012.
Both areas are slated to gain about 6 feet of depth through the dredging efforts, officials said.
The main dredge will continue its work in the Big Creek area, said Jerry Stevens, engineering services coordinator for the city’s water management department. It is assisted by a so-called swamp buggy, essentially a modified backhoe that uses pontoons to move itself in swampy areas.
“In this location, it’s mainly used for the stumps and shrubs or trees or anything like that that the big dredge wouldn’t be able to get,” Stevens said. “It’s so shallow that the big dredge really can’t go up in there.”
Meanwhile, two smaller dredges will work in the Sand Creek area, likely starting in July. The smaller dredges are diesel-powered, so they will make more noise than their electric counterpart in Big Creek.
Stevens said crews would take decibel readings to ensure that the work does not exceed city specifications. Both operations will run 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“That’s so they can get done faster,” Stevens said. “If we have to stop at night, it just takes us that much longer to get done.”
Residents are likely to notice Great Lakes crews in two new staging areas: the Lost Bridge boat ramp and a spot near Grove Road.
Boaters and other lake users should use caution when approaching the dredging equipment, said Joe Nihiser, lake maintenance supervisor. They should pay special attention to markers and buoys.
“Anything they can stay away from, 200 feet, they need to, especially the working machinery – barges, boosters, etc.,” he said.
Stevens said Great Lakes currently employs 22 workers from Macon and surrounding counties, and 11 workers who are not from the local area. It is expected to hire more people as the work progresses this summer.
Subcontractor Terra Contracting Services has 13 local employees and six nonlocal employees. Those workers are involved in earthwork to increase capacity of the Oakley basin where the sediment is stored, a project officials hope will wrap up this year.
The dredging effort, which began in fall 2014, is ultimately expected to increase the lake’s capacity by 30 percent.
Source: Herald&Review
