If your commute takes you along 7th Street, west of West Circle Drive in northwest Rochester, as mine does, you might have noticed there was a lot of work being done on the pond near 43rd Avenue. So just what was going on?

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Crews began hauling sediment out of the pond along 7th St. NW in Rochester last winter. (CSJ/TSM-Rochester)
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Well, according to this Post-Bulletin column, the work was all part of a face lift, of sorts, the pond, located right at the corner of 7th Street and 43rd Avenue northwest, received over the winter. City crews, when not busy plowing snow, engaged in a project to remove sediment that had accumulated in the pond.

The story noted that the pond, which was created in 1988, routinely accepts runoff from the city's Manor Woods and Diamond Ridge neighborhoods. As you might guess, over the course of the past 28 years, a little sediment had built up in the pond.

CSJ/TSM-Rochester
The pond-- now with less sediment-- as it looks today. (CSJ/TSM-Rochester)
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So, the story continued, the city of Rochester, after testing the sediment samples to make sure they weren't contaminated (and, they weren't, the story said-- in fact, the samples tested were "the cleanest level of sediments,") started hauling the stuff out. Now that the project's completed, the story said, the area has been reseeded with native grasses and plants.

I first noticed the heavy equipment at the pond sometime last fall, and sure enough, throughout the winter, there were several times I noted many a dump truck at the site, hauling stuff away. I always wondered just what they were doing. I thought perhaps one of the storm sewer pipes needed replacing or something like that. Turns out, the pond was just full of sediment. Clean sediment, as it turns out, but sediment none the less. And now you know.

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