Did you notice a tugboat breaking the thin ice near the Port of Orillia this afternoon?
The little boat is not working to extend the city’s boating season, nor to open up the port for a Christmas-themed pirate party. Rather, it’s part of an ongoing dredging project to improve shallow water levels near the port.
Passed by city council in last year’s budget, work on the project will be carried out through the winter, city staff told OrilliaMatters.
“What we're trying to do is achieve better depths on the water within the port, so that it's better for boats that are coming in to dock here,” explained Mark Buma, the city’s manager of facilities operations.
“It’s gotten quite shallow, and that's just over time with weed growth and everything, that the sediment is captured by the weeds. We've hit a point where now the depth of the water is a concern.”
But why is the project taking place in December?
“What we're trying to do is mitigate any effects or impacts on the boating season,” Buma said. “Otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to have boats in here all summer long.”
Buma also said less pedestrian traffic in the area means it’s safer to carry out the project, with a barge parked near the port as part of the project, as well.
“During the winter, there's far less pedestrian traffic, so from a safety perspective it makes a lot more sense to do the work now than it would be through the height of the season,” he said.
