Greater Harrisburg's Community Magazine

Harrisburg dredges Italian Lake, removes build up of “muck”

Dredging Italian Lake on Monday

Harrisburg’s Italian Lake may be beautiful on the surface, but what’s at the bottom of the water?

According to David Baker, director of parks, recreation and facilities for the city, there’s lots of debris, trash and “muck” that needs to be removed.

The city began to clean out the south portion of the lake, in a process called “dredging,” on Feb. 17, closing off small areas of the park to the public.

“Every so many years, it’s good practice to remove sediment from bodies of water like Italian Lake,” Baker explained. “This will make the lake cleaner.”

Items like decaying tree leaves, animal byproducts, trash and algae build up in the lake over the years, Baker said. This can reduce oxygen in the water, which can be harmful to fish.

There’s a lot of this build-up in Italian Lake, Baker said. He projected that they will remove around 64,000 cubic feet of sedimentation within the two-week-long process.

To do this, the city is using a large machine that filters out the sediment from the water, sucking it up and collecting it in a large bag. It’s a slow process, Baker said, that will not harm any wildlife living in the lake. All of the waste collected from the lake will be recycled, according to Baker.

“It’s a very green way of doing things,” he said.

Dredging isn’t an inexpensive process, Baker said. Because of the cost required for it, the city can only dredge one section for now. He hopes they can address the rest of the lake eventually, he said.

Baker can’t remember the last time the lake was dredged, but estimated it was at least 15 years ago.

After around two weeks, the full span of the lake will reopen to the public, Baker said. However, much of the park is still accessible during the process.

 

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