DREDGING

White Rock Lake needs a good dredge, and over the past few months, the city has been taking steps to make that happen.

Last fall, during a meeting where Blackmon wore a beaver outfit decorated with trash commonly found in the lake, the City Council approved a contract with an outside firm to conduct engineering design services. After a kickoff meeting between the city and consultant Freese and Nichols, the firm has 18 months to provide the study and be 30% complete on conceptual drawings.

But the city still has to find a way to pay for the whole thing.

Primary sources of funding being considered are the 2024 bond and federal and state dollars. The dredging feasibility study from 2020, also completed by Freese and Nichols, estimated that the cost would be $50 million to $88 million.

Dredging can’t begin until the engineering design is complete and funds are identified, so that means we’ll be waiting until 2024 or 2025.