Staff picture of Boulevard Lake
The garbage at the bottom of Boulevard Lake is being hauled away.
Thunder Bay’s Director of Operations Kayla Dixon tells us city council asked what clean up options were available, which including dredging, which is scraping the bottom, or general cleanup. “I was on the lake bottom back in July, and really, there isn’t a lot of litter out there. Parks has already been out there doing some of that, and they will continue as they have time in their schedule.”
The Director of Operations adds cleaning the garbage does not cost anything, as city staff does it, but dredging will require consulting and environmental assessment. She adds the dredging, or organic cleanup will not happen for at least another year.
“Neither of those projects would be short term. We wouldn’t be looking at doing those while the lake level is drawn down right now for construction. The time that would be required to do those studies, and consultation, those are long-term,” says Dixon.
Those consultations are where the general public comes in. “As part of our environment process, the city does have to reach out to the community for consultation, as well as to the regulatory agencies, which require approval and permits as well.”
The Director of Operations adds dredging would be done when the ground is frozen, making it easier to haul material away.
