The Kirkwood Lake remediation took a huge step forward when, at the subcommittee meeting on July 24, Camden County officials made a proposal to Sherwin Williams to allow the county to dredge the lake. The two sides, along with the Environmental Protection Agency, have continued talks to implement a plan of action.
“I am very excited and happy to see things are moving in the right direction,” Kirkwood Lake Environmental Committee member Alice Johnston said. “This is a major breakthrough.”
The agreement would need to be cost neutral with Sherwin Williams, which would be required to repay the county for the cost of dredging the contaminated soil in the lake.
“The county is trying to protect itself,” Johnston said. “It is understandable, and I am confident that this process is going to continue to move forward.”
The EPA also made a major decision at the July 24 meeting when it agreed to provide guidance in approving the plan.
Before any decisions can be made, Sherwin Williams is consulting with its lake specialist to develop a plan to remove the spatterdocks and help manage the lake until it can be dredged. It will also be determining a cost estimate for Sherwin Williams and the county. It will take approximately 60 days to gather all the information to obtain the cost estimates.
“We are very excited to have this commitment from the county and to have received such positive response from Sherwin Williams,” Johnston said. “This issue has been very drawn out, and working through all the levels to get things done has been frustrating, but it seems to be working out now.”
The July 24 meeting was the first to feature representatives from both the EPA and Sherwin Williams. That alone gives Johnston hope that a decision will be made.
“The first step is cooperation, and we’ve been waiting a long time to see all the parties involved meet together,” she said. “Now that it has taken place, we will have to see what’s next.”
The next planned event for Kirkwood Lake will be the Sept. 27 cleanup, which will coincide with the Green Apple Day of Service, designed to give local organizations the opportunity to transform their local environments.
“This is the second year we will be participating in this event,” Johnston said. “We want to do as much as we can in the lake before the dredging can occur.”
According to Johnston, it will take approximately two years to gather enough information to allow the dredging to actually happen.
In the meantime, Sherwin Williams, the EPA and the county will continue to work together to come up with a plan. A closed meeting has been tentatively scheduled for early October to discuss the next steps.
Until then, Johnston hopes the lake does not get any worse.
“Looking out over the lake, it’s pretty sad to see where it’s at,” she said. “Some points are so shallow that the ducks are standing up in it rather than swimming. It’s great to see that change is coming, but the process needs to happen quickly or there won’t be a lake to save.”
