Wreck Pond Project Begins

A long-awaited sediment removal project at Wreck Pond is now underway in Spring Lake.It began Tuesday on the part of the pond that is on the west side of Route 71. 4,250 cubic yards of sediment is being removed and transported to the county reclamation center where it will be re-used.

"The county is embarking on this important sediment removal operation not only for its beneficial impact on the environment but to help with flood mitigation, the southern end of Spring Lake gets hit hard with flooding during major storms and this and other similar future projects will mitigate the effects of those storms on nearby properties," says Monmouth County Freeholder Director Robert Clifton.

The pilot project is funded entirely by the county, using in-house labor and equipment and is expected to take about two and a half months to complete. The project will increase the depth of the pond from 6 inches to 30 inches.

"The area where we are working was considered to be an ideal place to not only remove sediment but to build a sediment basin to collect material generated upstream, the idea is to minimize the amount of sediment from reaching the main portion of Wreck Pond east of Route 71," says Freeholder Deputy Director John Curley, liaison to the county's Department of Public Works and Engineering.