Lake Bancroft cleanup takes a new step forward

The long process to clean up the water of lake Bancroft in Ishpeming is taking another step forward.

A Superior Watershed Partnership field technician took water quality samples from the lake this morning. The lake has been slowly turning into a swamp because the storm drains leading into it are blocked. The tests are taking place near each drain.

“Right now we’re basically just grabbing baseline data for Lake Bancroft, seeing what the initial problem is, and then we can go ahead and start remediating the problem areas,” SWP field technician Hunter King said.

Silt and other organic matter have been building up in the lake for decades. King and project organizers expect the actual polymer treatment of the lake to take place sometime in mid-July.

“Yeah, that’s the plan,” King said. “We’re looking forward to making Lake Bancroft a lake again and having people enjoy it and bringing it back to the way it used to be.”

The tests will also be done this summer, while the remediation work is in progress, and again at the conclusion of the project. The water samples will most likely be taken to the Marquette water treatment plant for now.