Cold Lake, AB – The City of Cold Lake is providing notice to boaters that environmental protection measures required by the permits to dredge the marina could delay the facility’s opening.

“We strive to open the Cold Lake Marina by the May long weekend each year, but with the dredging having just been completed, we need to keep certain measures in place to ensure that silt and material disturbed by the dredging process is kept from flowing freely into the lake,” Kevin Nagoya, Chief Administrative Officer for the City of Cold Lake, said. “The environmental protection measures are an important part of this project. While we all want our boating season to start as soon as possible, we also need to ensure that the dredging operation does not negatively affect the health of the lake.”

The dredging program was guided by a strict permitting process that has environmental-protection measures and water-quality monitoring requirements. Because material from the bottom has been disturbed and is suspended in the water, silt screens that prevent the material from flowing freely into the main lake have been installed. These need to remain in place until the material has settled, and will prevent access to the marina until the proper water quality has been achieved in the marina basin.

Water testing that measures the turbidity in and outside of the marina must reach a certain level before the silt screens can be removed. Turbidity is the measure of clarity of the water. High turbidity is due to material suspended in the water, reducing visibility, whereas low turbidity is the result of very little material being suspended in the water, providing for high visibility.

“It looks like the dredging was a success with several hundreds of tonnes of silt and material removed and, of course, silt in the water was to be expected with any dredging operation with all the underwater ground disturbance,” Nagoya said. “While we regret any inconvenience that a delayed opening may cause, dredging was an important maintenance operation that will keep the marina running for many more years. Staff are moving forward with the installation of the docks and supporting infrastructure for the marina operations, but the most important thing right now is for us to allow the material disturbed by the dredging process to settle so that we can open the marina with no negative effects to the rest of the lake.”

The City of Cold Lake will announce the opening of the marina via its social media channels, website, and the local media once it is sure that the marina can be opened in compliance with the environmental regulations that are in place.

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