Employees with a dredging contractor are working around the clock to remove sediment from the bottom of Lake Decatur as part of a $91 million project.
The Decatur City Council approved the six-year project last February. It's being carried out by Great Lakes Dredge & Dock and is expected to increase the lake's capacity by 30 percent.
The (Decatur) Herald & Review reports that a 220-foot dredge collects sediment and pushes it about eight miles through a submerged pipeline to a 523-acre sediment site in Oakley.
Work should wrap up in the next few weeks in Basin 1, where dredging activities began in late October. Then the dredge will move to the Big Creek area and remain there through the beginning of next year.
Dredging in Sand Creek and Basins 2, 3 and 4 will take place in subsequent years.
