SOUTHWICK — The federal Natural Resources Conservation Service will hire a consultant to conduct a “boot-on-the-ground” survey of Lake Congamond to establish a flood plan.

“I’m in the final throes of hiring a consultant with boots on the ground,” Richard Grannells of the city’s Lake Management Committee said during a recent committee meeting.

“They got the funding for it,” he said of the consulting work that will likely begin in late spring or early summer.