By Al Stanek
Whitewater Banner volunteer staff
whitewaterbanner@gmail.com

The Whitewater Common Council voted to complete the dredging of its two downtown area lakes next year within the parameters of the remaining $1.38 million budget for the project. Council members were given several options at their December 21 meeting after initial bids for the lakes improvement project came in higher than expected

Cravath Lake across from Whitewater’s City Hall and Trippe Lake on the city’s eastside have been drawn down over the past two years with the goal of making them cleaner and deeper. Over decades they have filled in with silt and been taken over by invasive plant species that make them undesirable for recreational purposes.

City Parks and Recreation Director Eric Boettcher told Common Council members that a controlled burn of remaining vegetation will likely continue for several days this week along with another planned burn in Spring.

The project’s original budget of roughly $1.5 million is estimated to have $1.38 million remaining after the scheduled Spring 2022 controlled burn. That would be less than the lowest bid of $2.5 million to dredge both lake beds and a similar bid by a local contractor of over $2 million to complete the project over a two year period.

The revised plan is to work with either the previous low bidder, or local firm Kowalski and Sons Excavating, with a less ambitious approach that reduces the total cubic yards of dredged material removed from the two lakes to match the remaining project budget. An effort at private fundraising to add to the remaining budget and possibly remove the original amount of estimated dredge material will also be a part of the revised plan which is to be completed early next year.

Both downtown lakes provided recreational opportunities like swimming, fishing and water ski shows which community leaders have indicated would be a valuable enhancement for the Whitewater community if restored.