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Last updated on Tuesday, December 9, 2014
(MITCHELL) - The lake at Spring Mill State Park is being dredged to remove silt.
The state announced in July it would begin dredging 40,000 cubic yards of silt from the 23-acre lake in order to improve its recreational access and improve the habitat for fish, turtles, otters, waterfowl and other wildlife.
The lake was last dredged in 1977-78 when 14 cubic yards of sediment was removed.
Currently, maintenance crews from the Department of Natural Resources are hard at work digging out settling basins, east of the park off Lawrenceport Road. Once that project is complete, the contractor hired to complete the project will begin its work, pumping sediment out of the lake.
The contract to start pumping the sediment and water from the lake to the settling basins begins Dec. 20.
The project, expected to cost $700,000, will happen in two phases over the next two or three years.
The Times-Mail reports, visitors to the park this winter will notice a large piece of machinery floating around the lake busting up the sediment so it can be flushed with water through pipes that lead east through the forest and pool area out of the park. The pipeline also will be visible in a few public areas throughout the park.
As the larger basin fills with sludge, the excess water will drain into a smaller basin. When most of the particulate has settled, the water will be returned to the lake through a pipe or ditch to an existing stream bed that flows into the lake.
Once the sediment is removed, the plan is to use it within the park to fill areas or around the community.
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