This spring, the ducks of State College's pond will come home from a long winter in the South to an improved home.

State College and Penn State will work together to fix the drainage channel that runs from the Pennsylvanian State University Wastewater Treatment Plant and the duck pond, according to a notice sent by the State College Borough.

The drainage channel feeds into the pond, which serves as a "storm water management facility," said Jeff Spackman, a project manager for the Office of the Physical Plant. He said water from snowfall or rainfall is held there so Thompson Run is not overburdened.

Lu Hoover, a borough planner, said State College has identified it as a project for several years, but until this year it had been put off. But the erosion has finally become too great to be ignored.

"Over time, the sides of the channel have worn away due to erosion," Hoover said. "There are large indentations where the water has worn away soil on the banks."

Hoover said one of the indentations from the erosion has worn close to a service road in the area.

"It just keeps getting worse," Hoover said.

The borough wants to keep the channel from wearing away again, Hoover said.

"As the water comes through the channel, it picks up sediment and deposits it in the pond," Hoover said. "Stabilizing the channel helps prevent the collection of sediment."

Hoover said the project should start in February and be completed in April. The borough does not know who will be doing the project because they have just started soliciting bids for it.

The project itself will be financed 50 percent by the borough and 50 percent by Penn State. The funding from the borough will come from the Community Development Block Grant, which is a federal fund for communities with a population of 51 percent with low to moderate income levels, according to the Web site for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The project will repair 800 feet of the channel. The borough, along with Penn State, will consider dredging the pond if funds are available, according to the notice, as well as a diversion of upland drainage, removing water from the pond. The notice also says if there is "non-federal" funding available all disturbed areas will be restored.