The city of Hamilton revealed details of a contract with a Canadian-based soil and groundwater remediation specialist to begin the cleanup of Chedoke Creek in July.
In a release on Tuesday, staff said retention of all necessary permits and awarding of the dredging contract have been completed.
Milestone Environmental Contracting Inc. will do the work for an estimated $6 million in response to a 24 billion litre spill of untreated sewage and stormwater over four years.
The cleanup is part of a provincially ordered remediation following a large leak between 2014 and 2018 due to a partially opened gate on a combined sewer overflow tank.
The city of Hamilton has been working with Royal Botanical Gardens since that time to develop the remediation plan, which was ordered to include Chedoke Creek and Cootes Paradise.
The dredging is expected to begin in weeks and take four to five months to complete.
Recent pre-remediation efforts have included aquatic biologists collecting and relocating Lilliput mussels, the only known “species at risk” within the area targeted for restoration.
The deadline to complete the cleanup is Dec. 31 in alignment with an order issued by the Ministry of Environment, Conservation, and Parks.