Final preparations underway for targeted dredging in Chedoke Creek

Significant cleanup efforts are expected to begin next month in Chedoke Creek.

Staff confirm that the tender closes this week, as the City of Hamilton prepares to hire a contractor to carry out targeted dredging within the waterway.

Targeted dredging, as ordered by the province’s Environment Ministry, follows the release of 24 billion litres of sewage and untreated wastewater through a partially opened gate on a combined sewer overflow (CSO) tank between 2014 and 2018.

Cari Vanderperk, Hamilton’s director of watershed management, says in-water work should begin in late July and will take four to six months to complete.

“Prior to the dredge work, we’ll have a mobilization period, setting up the dredge material management area in Kay Drage Park,” says Vanderperk.

She adds that city councillors will be asked to approve the hiring of a contractor in early July, and “we’re targeting the end of July, beginning of August” for the start of dredging.

Aquatic biologists are currently working to find, collect and relocate Lilliput mussels, the only known “species at risk” within the area targeted for restoration.

“They’re removing them from the targeted dredge project area, and they’re moving them to a safer site within Cootes Paradise,” adds Vanderperk.