Citizens Water has begun dredging Hinkle Creek at Little Chicago Road bridge. Representatives indicate this is a one-step removal process, meaning that the excavator dumps the sediment onto the barge, then unloads the sediment into dump trucks that haul the sediment to a dump site. Citizens expects the dredging of this portion of Hinkle to be a twq-year project based on budget and the amount of sediment to be removed.
After the two-year project, the dredging will then move to Big Cicero Creek at the State Road 19 bridge. Citizens has recently received a five-year permit for dredging from IDEM and the Army Corps of Engineers. The permitting process took about four years to complete to meet all the regulatory and environmental concerns by those organizations.
The Morse Waterway Association, a non-profit organization that serves the Morse Reservoir community, will work with the home and condo associations for additional grant funding to add to Citizens budgeted amounts for increased dredging in these areas.