Stormwater pond must be dredged
Work will protect health of nearby Grand River
BRESLAU — Wildlife may be affected as a developer drains and dredges a local pond, but Woolwich Township says the procedure has provincial approval and is required to ensure local waterways stay healthy.
The storm water management pond is at the end of Dolman Street, next to the Riverlands subdivision, and is surrounded by a trail that’s popular with walkers and joggers.
But this week, the pond is shrinking, with water birds crowding into a smaller surface area surrounded by mud flats.
The pond was created when the subdivision was being built in 2007-08, and is designed to capture run-off, including road salt and sand, and prevent it from flowing into the Grand River, just metres away, said Andrew Ropp, a development engineering technician with the township.
The pond needs to be dredged of the sludge that has accumulated, and so the developer is doing that work now.
The pond is being drained so that heavy equipment can go in to dredge, Ropp said.
“It will be quite invasive,” Ropp said.
“It will look of nasty for a while.”
But the developer has obtained permits from the Ministry of the Environment, and caught fish and frogs from the pond to be relocated elsewhere, Ropp said.
That work may harm some trees and plants near the water’s edge, but the developer is required to restore any plants afterwards.
Unfortunately, wildlife doesn’t distinguish the artificial pond from natural waterways, but once the area is fully developed, the pond might only need to be dredged every 25 years, rather than every five to 10 years.