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Victoria Park Lake shines for Kitchener’s centennial
by Helen HallKitchener Citizen
After months of being hidden behind fences and obscured with construction vehicles, Victoria Park’s beauty has returned.
The City of Kitchener recently completed an improve-ment project which should help improve the water quality in the lake. About 60,000 tonnes of sediment was excavated from the lakebed during the winter. The lake was deepened to improve circulation, and a sediment “reservoir” was created to slow down the water entering the lake and trap the sediment.
Victoria Park Lake is a stormwater pond. Water that runs off hard surfaces after the rain or when the snow melts moves through the stormwater system to the lake. The stormwater carries the sediment.
As sediment fills the bottom of the lake it decreases the water circulation ,and bacteria builds up from the duck and geese feces and lack of oxygen.
About $10.5-million was spent on the cleanup over the winter. It is hoped that the deepening of the lake and the sediment reservoir will keep this from happening again. Also, the armour stone rocks installed at the edge of the lake make it more difficult for ducks and geese to get in and out of the water.
The City of Kitchener will host a grand opening event at the Roos Island Bandshell on June 8 at 11:30am to celebrate the re-opening of the lake. Local politicians, city staff and the neighbourhood association will plant a tree to mark the occasion.