Posted on May 10, 2019
A 300-ton yellow crane started lifting heavy dredging equipment and piping onto a barge off of Nightingale Beach in Lake Linganore at about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Activity has increased on the beach since Monday, as workers from Maryland Environmental Service (MES) and Mobile Dredging and Video Pipe Inc. are staging a dredging project, which is projected to remove 100,000 cubic yards of sediment from the lake, enough to fill more than 13 Goodyear blimps.
The project will cost roughly $18 million — about half of which is paid by the city of Frederick, and a quarter each by the Lake Linganore Association and Frederick County.
Residents who live next to the lake said Wednesday they are supportive of the project, as it will improve the lake’s health.
Paul Baba, 56, lives on Nightingale Place, down the street from the beach where the crew staged the equipment. Baba said the dredging is needed, especially given the depth of the lake north of the Boyers Mill Road bridge.
“It’s been a long time overdue, I think,” Baba said. “I usually kayak up there every other day. It’s hard to get up there, it’s pretty shallow.”
“We’re hoping to clear the water up, too,” he added. “Every time it rains, it turns to chocolate milk.”
Adam Book, 53, is concerned about how much mud and dirt the dredging will kick up.
“There’s going to be a silt curtain that will block much of what they’re stirring up, but until it’s actually underway, it’s hard to say how much that’s going to work,” said Book, who lives on the 6700 block of Old Stonehouse Lane.
But he supports the project overall.
“Just for the health of the lake, it’s something that should have been done 10, 20 years ago,” Book said.
Michelle Doster, general manager of the Lake Linganore Association, said the staging part of the project should be complete by the end of this week.
She added the dredging should start by July, and that the association meets with each party involved in the project every two weeks for updates.
The Frederick News-Post previously reported the dredging should be completed by late 2020. Water testing will be completed by MES on a weekly basis during the project.
Some residents said that noise during the dredging project could be concerning, but added they’re prepared, as replacing the Boyers Mill Road bridge created the same issues roughly four or five years ago.
Doster said the project will create some noise — how much depends on how the pumping system is set up. She added, however, that the noise will occur no earlier than 7 a.m., and not outside of “normal working hours.”
She said she understands the dredging will create some issues for people who kayak, swim or boat on the lake. But it’s vital to the lake’s health, she said.
“It’s short-term pain for long-term gain,” Doster said.
John Schoppert, who lives on the 6700 block of Old Stonehouse Lane, said the work is needed.
“I’m just hoping it brings the lake back to a little bit better health,” Schoppert said. “Now there’s a lot more runoff and everything going in there, so hopefully giving it a little more depth will help where it will get a little more water quality.”
“I drive past it every day, I see how the water colors are, I saw the algae blooms a couple years ago,” he added. “So I’m just hoping that we get back to a much healthier lake with this.”
Source: fredericknewspost.com
