Posted on April 10, 2024
The Duck Pond on Virginia Tech’s campus is set to undergo dredging from late April until summer.
“The duck ponds serve from an environmental standpoint as a stormwater detention pond,” said William Knocke, Professor and Associate Department Head for the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Stormwater detention ponds are designed to capture sediment and protect downstream water bodies. “What happens in a settlement pond is eventually you collect enough sediment that unless you do something about it, you no longer have a pond; it just fills in with sediment over time.”
According to an email sent to civil and environmental engineering staff on Feb. 28 from Knocke, the duck ponds are set to undergo a 45- to 60-day dredging operation.
Dredging consists of removing silt and settled sediments from the bottom of bodies of water according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association.
According to Knocke, there are individuals opposed to the incoming dredging at the Duck Pond.
“I know someone on the committee has talked about concerns about turtles and the like that may be down in the sediments, but they can hopefully do it in a way that would minimize those impacts,” Knocke said.
Knocke stated the bags of dredged material are to be placed on Virginia Tech’s golf course to dry and should be completely drained by October.
“This is something that needs attention and one of the things I think you’ll see over time is that in addition, it’s an environmentally correct thing to do,” Knocke said. “The duck ponds now kind of sit on the periphery of campus. Ten to fifteen years from now, the golf course is gone, because that’s all-university buildings; inherently, the ponds are going to become more of an integrated part of the campus itself.”
