There have been times throughout the years when the water in the pond at Armstrong Park has been, shall we say, less than pristine.

That will change this year, and an all natural filtering process will be used to get the job done.

The pond is a tranquil place near the intersection of North Seventh Street and Exposition Drive. Canada geese are regularly seen in the water and on the grass alongside the pond. But that water often contains sediment, debris and pollutants as the result of rainwater running off nearby streets and other properties.

To fix the problem, the City Council on Monday awarded a $425,355.50 contract to Crow River Construction of New London, Minnesota. That company will be doing a lot of work in the park, but the key element of the project is a sedmentation pool to be created between the pond and the Lions Den building. All the stormwater will be channeled into that pool. There, all the stuff that nobody wants in a pond will settle to the bottom and cleaner water will trickle into the pond.

The park will be closed while this project is going on. When the work is done, the pond will be smaller than it is now.

We think the inconvenience of a closed park and the loss of some of the pond’s area is a fair tradeoff for the cleaner, healthier body of water that will result from this project.

We thank City Engineer Tony Trotter and the other officials who worked hard to make this possible. We look forward to an improved pond at Armstrong Park.