Posted on October 15, 2025
A first-of-its-kind dredging project at Tuttle Creek Reservoir completed just before the federal government shutdown took effect, but it could be some time before federal and state engineers know just how effective the process was at removing decades of sediment buildup.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Kansas Water Office completed the 10-day demonstration of water injection dredging for the fall period on Sept. 27, avoiding being impacted by the federal government shutdown which began Oct. 1. A second and third round of dredging periods are scheduled for spring and summer of 2026. Michels Construction of Brownsville, Wisconsin was awarded the $7.8 million contract for the project in December 2024.
With the federal government shutdown entering its third week, some non-essential work at the corps of engineers is inactive. According to its website, the USACE closed its regulatory offices and halted permit processing, though essential activities like national security and protection of life and property continue under specific conditions. It expected to furlough 1,119 of its 36,610 employees.
KMAN and The Mercury reached out to USACE Kansas City district project manager and planner Laura Totten Oct. 8 for a status update on last month’s project. Totten said because the corps is operating under a lapse in federal appropriations, its activities are limited and interviews cannot be granted until Congress approves a continuing resolution.
During a radio appearance last month on KMAN’s Within Reason with Mike Matson, Totten explained Tuttle Creek Lake was about half full of sediment from the original constructed storage in the multi-purpose pool.
The dredging process involves a large barge equipped with a pipe that injects water into sediment at the bottom of the lake, lifting it into suspension and creating a “density current.”
“The hope is that the sediment will then flow out of those lower gates into the river downstream,” Totten said. “We believe it will stay in suspension and keep flowing down the river, out of the Big Blue River, into the Kansas, into the Missouri, into the Mississippi to the Gulf (of America). But we are monitoring that downstream to see exactly what happens to the fate of that sediment.”
