Georgina
September 03, 2008 08:03 PM
The summer aquatic weed harvesting program is under way and the contractor is plowing through a heavy accumulation on the south end of Cook’s Bay.
The stretch north to Rayners Road from the canals is expected to take about three more weeks.
Council has hired Inland Aquatics again to handle the job, budgeted to cost about $175,000.
If successfully completed, the company has been contracted to come back next year with a 3 per cent price increase.
Town operations manager Bob Fortier said he was on the company’s boat for an inspection last week and saw heavy weed build-up further out in the lake, plus large amounts of duckweed as well closer to shore.
The harvester is collecting weeds from 50 feet in to shore.
Residents who collect their own lake weeds can put them out as yard waste. Mr. Fortier is recommending using rigid containers with holes drilled in the bottom.
As well, residents who join in to do a community cleanup can call the town and order a container that will be placed nearby and collected later. This service is available throughout the lakeshore community.
Containers will be dropped off Thursday and Friday and picked up Monday and Tuesday. “We haven’t had a whole lot of interest in that, but with the water levels dropping more weeds will be exposed,” Mr. Fortier said.
“Inland has demonstrated their proactive approach to weed harvesting including yearly summaries, proposed technologies to increase efficiency and actively working with the conservation authority and the town,” Mr. Fortier said in his earlier report to council. Inland has had the contract since 2004.
With the extensive drought, last year’s week buildup was “light” in comparison to other years, Mr. Fortier said. As a result, the cost of the harvest was just $84,500, well short of the $175,000 budget.
The cost in 2006 was $165,824, but 2005 had a heavy accumulation of floating weeds so the costs jumped to $239,797, higher than the previous record of $232,506 in 2003. The 2004 season was not completed because of low water levels and poor weather.
For more information on lake weed collection, call the town at 905-476-4301.