An engineering company in the next few weeks will take soil borings above the shoreline and underwater in Fountain Lake to help prepare a contour design for dredging.

The Shell Rock River Watershed District Board of Managers on Monday approved a $56,000 contract with Barr Engineering to determine what types and strengths of soils are in the slopes along the perimeter of the lake.

Project Manager Andy Henschel said it is critical to know this information to make sure these slopes aren’t going to fall in when the dredging takes place.

“It’s a very important piece of the total project,” Henschel said.

The work — called a geotechnical investigation — looks at the stability of the soil both above and below the water.

Henschel said the board took action ahead of schedule because it was cheaper to do the borings this fall before it gets colder and the water and land freezes.

The approval of the second phase of engineering will occur at a later time.

Henschel estimated the borings would be completed the first or second week of November, with the analysis of those borings to be done in December.

The action took place with minimal discussion by the board.

Shell Rock River Watershed District Administrator Brett Behnke said earlier this month he hopes the dredging will take place the summer of 2016.