photo by: Bremen Keasey

A platform sitting on the Kansas River near Burcham Park in Lawrence. The platform indicates a spot where an intake structure for the Kaw River Treatment Plant gets its water from. A dredging project will be done later in 2025 to help maintain those lines, but there is no set date for the project — which could close the river for two months.

A dredging project at the Kaw River Water Treatment Plant could close a portion of the river for up to two months sometime this year, but the exact details of when that work might happen are still up in the air.

The Lawrence City Commission recently approved a $510,000 agreement with Veit & Company Inc. to complete the project, which will help maintain the intake pumps for the Kaw River Water Treatment Plant. However, the city has not yet announced a specific time when the work will take place, other than that it will be completed by the end of 2025.

Omar Maali, a project engineer with the Municipal Services and Operations department, said that the project should have a set timeline by the end of January.

The project will dredge the areas around the plant’s intake valves on the Kansas River, a few hundred yards off of Burcham Park near the Pinkney neighborhood. The city dredges those areas every few years, Maali said, because the river’s flow changes over time.

A buildup of sediment and debris around the opening of the intake valves means more sediment can come into the treatment plant, Maali said. Maali stressed that the sediment is removed from the water during treatment, and that the maintenance was intended to prevent damage to the plant and keep the city from needing to replace pumps or valves.

“We want to put less stress on our equipment,” Maali said.

Because the project could close part of the river for up to two months, Maali said MSO reached out to the Parks, Recreation and Culture department to try to limit disruptions to any activities that took place along Burcham Park. He also said the city spoke with the head coach for the University of Kansas women’s rowing team, whose boathouse is in Burcham Park, to try to limit disruptions of its competitions or practices.

“The selection of the date depends on all the events (along the river),” Maali said.

After the dredging, Maali said the contractor would also haul the sediment away. That could also have a variable timeline. If the dredging takes place during warmer weather, the sediment would dry faster and be easier to haul away, Maali said.