Work is expected to begin next week on a project to repair shoreline protection along the St. Clair River near the Lambton Area Water Supply System water plant north of the Blue Water Bridge.
Work is expected to begin next week on a project to repair shoreline protection along the St. Clair River near the Lambton Area Water Supply System water plant north of the Blue Water Bridge.
This work involves about 100 meters of armor stone shoreline protection near the Rotary Club of Bluewaterland flag plaza on the riverfront.
“Back in July, we were notified of some erosion issues and the conservation authority hired a consulting engineer,” said Girish Sankar, director of water resources with the St. Clair Region Conservation Authority.
“We did a detailed assessment and we found that the bottom stones were the ones causing the problem.”
Sankar said Van Bree contracting, a company that has worked with the conservation authority on several shoreline projects, was hired to do the work.
“They’re working with us along the Bright’s Grove shoreline as well, so they are very experienced.”
The project with the water plant experienced some delays securing a permit needed from Fisheries and Oceans Canada, as well as scheduling conflicts with the contractor, Sankar said.
“Initially, we wanted to get the project going by late October (or) November,” he said.
The work is now expected to begin as soon as next week and take 20 to 25 “working days” to complete, depending on weather and the supply of armor stone, Sankar said.
“We’ve identified certain pockets that need to be repaired,” involving “toe stones” or foundation stones for the armor stone shoreline along the river, he said.
The toe stones are the lowest and impacted the most by the water.
“Those are the stones that have been identified to have issues,” Sankar.
The stones above these toe stones will have to be removed for the work to assess and replace the lower stones where needed, he said.
“Those ones that are showing signs of vulnerability are the ones that will be replaced,” Sankar said.
“We do know there are a number of stones that need to be replaced, but we are going to monitor and assess the other stones as well.”
Sankar said the issues with some of the foundation stones is connected with high water levels and ice formations since 2018.
“In addition to that, the stones that were brought in” when the shoreline protection was installed in the 1990s “had some minor fractures that seem to have been exaggerated because of the high lake levels and the shoreline erosion,” he said.
“That spot in particular, where the lake meets the river, you are bound to have high currents as well,” Sankar said.
The type of shoreline projection in place along the riverfront is typically expected to last 50 years, with some “minor maintenance,” he said.
“This is not a common occurrence” to need to do “major maintenance work within 30 years of installation.”
Sankar said the toe stones are the “foundation” of the shoreline protection structure.
“If your foundation is weak, then the superstructure is going to fail,” he said.
“With the conditions we’ve been experiencing along the shoreline, with the high lake levels and the winds, there’s a chance that one big wind event could cause failure of the structure.”
“This is important work and it needs to be completed.”
Construction costs for the project are expected to be slightly more than $695,000, plus $82,000 for engineering, Sankar said.
The Lambton Area Water Supply System is paying the full cost of the repairs, he said.
Sankar said the conservation authority has been working with the Rotary Club on a “robust plan to protect” its flag plaza during the project.
The Rotary Club created the flag plaza in 2003 to honor those working in emergency response on both sides of the river dividing Ontario and Michigan.
It flies the Canadian and US flags, and the service club sells memorial stones in the plaza to raise money to support community projects.
The flag plaza sits on land owned by the water supply system.
Sankar said the project’s contractor and engineer are “very much aware of the sensitivity of the area and how much they have to be very cautious,” Sankar said.
He said they are asking local residents to be patient during the time the work is being carried out and the plaza section of the popular riverfront, as well as the nearby water plant parking lot, are closed to the public.
“It is an inconvenience, but we just need to march on with this project and hopefully, by mid-March, everything will be available for public use again,” Sankar said.
The Lambton Area Water Supply System supplies drinking water to about 120,000 users in Sarnia, Point Edward, St. Clair Township, Plympton-Wyoming, Warwick Township and Lambton Shores, according to its website.
The system is jointly owned by the municipalities it serves.