GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – Memorial Day weekend is a kickoff to summer for many, but boaters ripping down the Fox River still need to pay attention for dredging equipment…for now.
“We want everybody to be safe on the river there is still some clean up equipment the river so we want boaters and anybody else who uses the river for recreational purposes be safe out on the river,” says Fox River Cleanup Project Spokesman Scott Stein, “There’s not as much equipment out there now we’re in our final weeks of operations for the Fox River Cleanup Project, but there is still equipment out there and we want everybody to be safe.”
Safety remains a priority for the project – whether that’s for workers or recreational boaters passing through the work areas.
“You know we have a number of buoys and markers out there including a large danger pipeline or pipeline crossing sites that basically mark areas where operations are taking place,” Stein tells WTAQ News, “There are lighted orange and white buoys that mark where a pipeline may be near a dredge…We also have the orange pipeline delineators, which mark where the pipeline is sunk to the bottom of the river in those areas…Lighted green and red buoys mark channels for safe passage. What’s important understand about those is that you know they could move from day to day and even during the day.”
The project has been dredging, capping, and covering for PCB cleanup since 2009. Now in the twelfth year of operations, the end is near.
“The dredging is wrapping up real soon, maybe even by the end of this week. But there will be some spreading operations continuing for the next few weeks, probably wrapping up sometime in mid-to-late June,” Stein says.
The week leading up to Memorial Day is National Safety Boating Week, and the US Coast Guard also reminds boaters to have approved Personal Flotation Devices for each person on board, travel at safe speeds, and to be respectful of the right of everyone on and near the water.
