NEW PHILADELPHIA, Ohio — A New Philadelphia company has been awarded contracts to complete a total of 11 shoreline stabilization projects during the upcoming winter at Charles Mill and Seneca lakes.
An estimated $1.4 million worth of shoreline work at Atwood Lake is being proposed to begin in two years.
Members of the board of directors of the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD) approved two contracts for Tucson Inc. of New Philadelphia on its low bids for the projects at Charles Mill Lake near Mansfield in Ashland and Richland counties, and Seneca Lake located south of Cambridge in Guernsey and Noble counties.
Tucson bid $236,648 for the six projects scheduled to be completed this winter at Charles Mill Lake, and $259,130 for the five projects planned at Seneca Lake. A total of seven companies submitted bids for the projects.
The projects at Charles Mill Lake carried an engineer’s estimate of $350,000 and the projects at Seneca were estimated to cost $300,000.
Boris E. Slogar, MWCD chief engineer, said the upgrades are part of the routine maintenance to the MWCD reservoirs, in partnership with the Huntington (WV) District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which operates the dams in this system of reservoirs and dams.
During drawdown
The time period between November and March of each year when the water levels at the MWCD lakes are reduced in the routine winter “drawdown” also provides the opportunity to correct eroded shorelines.
The work is paid for through the MWCD’s funds collected from owners of properties in the Muskingum River Watershed.
Atwood project
The conservancy district also has taken steps to address an estimated 2,500 feet of needed shoreline stabilization work at two separate locations at Atwood Lake during the winter of 2015-16.
The projects, estimated to cost $1.4 million, are located near Atwood Lake Park behind the park amphitheater in Carroll County and along the Atwood Glens Cottage Area in Carroll and Tuscarawas counties.
A combination of erosion control materials, bioengineering elements and filter strip plantings would be utilized, resulting in improved water quality upon completion of the project, Slogar said.
Over the past three years, the MWCD has completed nearly 70 shoreline projects at a cost of $3.6 million and leading to the improvement of nearly 4.5 miles of shoreline.
The MWCD has identified nearly 500 shoreline projects that need to be addressed as part of this routine maintenance program.
The MWCD was organized in 1933 to develop and implement a plan to reduce flooding and conserve water for beneficial public uses in the Muskingum River Watershed. It oversees 16 reservoirs and dams.
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