AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) – Dudley Stulb has been walking the canal trail for years, but he’s never seen it look this.“No, had no idea two big trees there and others down, down the ways towards the pumping station, so that’s going to be difficult to get out,” he said.But that’s the plan for the Utilities Department.The canal has been drained, allowing access to several trees knocked into the waterway by Hurricane Helene.
Heavy equipment is now on site to grab and cut the the trees.“I think everybody in town has seen these big green big track-hoe machines, they’ll grab that, work it to a more manageable size and then haul that off,” said Chad Hendrix Assistant Director of the Utilities Department.It’s expected to take two to three weeks to remove trees.
They need to come out because the canal provides 65 percent of the city’s drinking water.“We know we pull a lot of water out of the canal there at the Raw Water Pump Station, so obviously any of that clog up those intakes, that’s our raw water,” said Hendrix.This is just the first phase of what will be a $32 million-dollar repair job on the canal.This year, the city is raising water rates six and a half percent. Repairing Helene damage is not the only reason for it, but a big part it.“There’s no question Helene cause a lot of things to be exposed, a lot of things that had to be repaired. We have a lot of big plants, an industrial base we have to provide treatment and water supply to all of these entities,” said Utility Department Director Wes Byne.After being closed for more than a year, this section of the canal path just reopened last month. However, officials say they don’t plan to close it again while the tree removal is underway…