Garrioch Creek has undergone some cleanup through the winter. Those in the neighbourhood on Bridge Road will have noticed a large extended pile of plant material that's been removed from the creek. 

Superintendent of public works Brian Taylor explains what's happening.

"I don't know if everybody's aware, but we have the weir at one end, and that's how we control the lake level," says Taylor. "That is our outfall from the Crescent, which means that all the water that we have to release, if we're getting too high and whatnot, it gets released to the Assiniboine, and it runs through Garrioch Creek. It is important that, when required, we remove the overgrowth of vegetation -- the bulrushes and whatever other weeds that are in the way."

He notes they perform this cleanup about every ten years, as required. 

"We've piled it off to the side," says Taylor. "With that waste there, once it dries out, we will level it out and incorporate it into our walking path so that we can repurpose it. One of the big things is with the amount of bulrushes there is, when the water is flowing, everything flows. The bulrushes will move down and we do need to put screens across our culverts to prevent beavers from getting inside and blocking them. All the waste gets caught up in the grates and we'll block it."

Taylor adds it's part of their maintenance program. 

"We have a few other outfall places throughout the city and, as it becomes their turn, we'll go out and clean them, as well," says Taylor. "We did it in the winter this time around, which makes it easier. We don't have to worry about equipment getting stuck and whatnot. I believe we were about a week and a half doing that."