If you saw a lot of equipment and long hoses extending from the holding ponds near the water plant on Second and Beech Friday, December 19th, and wondered what the heck was going on, the City of Ottawa was conducting “sludge dredging”. Sludge dredging refers to the process of removing accumulated solid material from the bottom of treatment basins or holding ponds. It has been quite a few years since the last dredging. Regular dredging resources pond capacity, prevents overflow and system bottlenecks, reduces potential odor and environmental issues and ensures continuous treatment efficiency.
The water and material was drained using huge hoses that extended under Beech street, down the ditch on K-8, under the highway and allowed to flow into the fields on the west side of K-68.
