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Marathon County nearly completes Big Eau Pleine aerator replacement; final work scheduled after hunting season
Summary
County conservation staff say replacement of decades-old aerator components at Big Eau Pleine Reservoir is nearly finished after a $225,000 funding package; remaining installation will resume in December and start-up testing will follow.
Marathon County conservation staff told the Environmental Resources Committee on Oct. 14 that replacement of worn aerator components at Big Eau Pleine Reservoir is nearly complete and that final installation and start-up testing are scheduled for December.
The county awarded an installation contract to Econ and has replaced most of the aging equipment, conservation staff said. The project originally was funded with $175,000 from Marathon County's environmental impact fund and a $50,000 contribution from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, for a total of about $225,000. Work began in 2023 with engineering through 2023–24 and a contractor award late last year.
“Most everything has been replaced at this point by Econ,” a conservation staff presenter said, noting a couple of components were on back order and the contractor paused field work this fall to allow the landowner who owns the site access to their property during hunting season. Staff said crews will return after hunting season ends to finish installation and perform start-up testing with the goal that the aerator will be fully operational for the spring season.
Background materials on the project and earlier presentations are available on the Marathon County YouTube channel, staff said. The conservation presenter also told the committee the county uses the environmental impact fund — money originally provided to the county related to a transmission line project in the early 2000s — for projects such as the aerator, groundwater planning, and a POUTS loan program.
Why it matters: The aerator is an operational tool county staff use to maintain dissolved oxygen and fish habitat in the reservoir, which staff described as one of the county's most-used parks and an important fishery. County officials framed the replacement as a maintenance and conservation investment to avoid machine failures from equipment original to the 1960s–1980s era.
The committee did not take any formal vote on the aerator at the Oct. 14 meeting; staff characterized the update as informational and said they would return with final testing results after December start-up.
