Work to shore up the Neustadt Lagoon is almost complete – but the early and fierce arrival of winter means a big delay for the final details of the project.
West Grey Mayor Kevin Eccles says construction began on July 14th and now a lot of the primary work is done, but they had hoped to have everything complete by November 30th.
Eccles says with the arrival of the winter weather, tree and grass planting to stabilize the river banks now won’t happen until the spring.
The primary work involved the channel diversion – Eccles says the new channel has been dug to move the South Saugeen riverbed back about 100-150 metres from the lagoon.
The new banks have been stabilized with rock and other technologies so it doesn’t erode back toward the lagoon – but the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries also wants natural products like trees and grass used.
Eccles says the project has passed its first test with flying colours – there was a big rain a couple weeks ago and everything worked just like it was supposed to.
However, the big test will be in the spring thaw and runoff, when the greatest amount of erosion is typically seen.
The project is intended to keep the river from eroding right into the lagoon and releasing raw sewage into the Saugeen river system.
The contract with Wayne Swartz Construction for the “Slope Stabilization and River re-alignment” project has been extended until June 30th.
Eccles says the contract extension will have no affect on the 1.7 million dollar price tag for the work.
