A variety of environmental permits are still needed from upper levels of government, but the targeted dredging of Chedoke Creek is still expected to begin this summer.

City staff say they plan to start the restoration work in July, between the Kay Drage park bridge and the point at which the creek empties into the Cootes Paradise marsh.

The plan, presented to city councillors on Wednesday, calls for a machine to suck up to 10,000 cubic metres of polluted sediment from the waterway by the end of 2022.

The targeted dredging follows the spill of 24 billion litres of sewage and untreated wastewater into Chedoke Creek from a combined sewage overflow tank between 2014 and 2018.

“Not all of the nutrient loading will be able to be recaptured during the targeted dredging process,” cautions Cari Vanderperk, Hamilton’s director of watershed management.

“We are not going to dredge for the sake of dredging to remove the equivalent loading,” adds Vanderperk, “we are targeting those areas where we have found value to remove.”

The city has set aside $20 million for cleanup efforts in Chedoke Creek and Cootes Paradise, and Ward 1 Coun. Maureen Wilson looks forward to seeing the progress.

“Forty-seven tonnes of total phosphorus, 312 tonnes of total nitrogen, that’s what the impact is,” Wilson says. “I think we have to do right by this biosphere, I think we have to right by our commmunity and I think we have to do right by our reputation.”