The Lake Zumbro dredging scheme in Rochester, Minnesota, is progressing according to schedule and is close to 80-percent complete, KROC-AM reports.
According to Rochester Public Utilities spokesman Tony Benson, dredging crews have removed about 340,000 cubic yards of sludge, silt, and other materials from the reservoir along the Zumbro River in northern Olmsted County and southern Wabasha County.
Benson added that another 100,000 cubic yards of sediment that still needs to be dredged from the northern part of the lake.
The Lake Zumbro project, conducted by J.F. Brennan Company, includes dredging at nine specified locations to remove accumulated sediments and transport these sediments to a disposal site east of the lake.
The lake was created in 1919 following completion of the Lake Zumbro Hydro Project which dammed the south and middle forks of the Zumbro River north of Rochester, Minnesota. Sediment transport and deposition since construction of the dam has resulted in a significant accumulation of sediment within several areas of the lake.