Work gearing up for dam and reservoir renovations in Mercer County
Oct. 4—PRINCETON — Draining a lake, dredging up decades-worth of sediment and organizing some fishing tournaments are all part of a long-term plan for restoring Mercer County's earthen dams.
The Mercer County Commission recently selected the engineering firm Alliance Consulting to work on state and federal requirements for dam restoration projects at Glenwood Recreation Park, the nearby Dan Hale Reservoir and other dams in the county, according to County Commission President Bill Archer.
Plans call for starting restoration work at the Glenwood Park dam and the Dan Hale dam in about 18 months, Archer said. A third dam along Route 10 near Fly-by-Nite Disposal and another at James P. Bailey Lake are part of the restoration project, too. Years of preparation have gone into the upcoming restorations.
"I tell you, since day one on the job, I've been dealing with issues related to that," Archer said, adding, "Of course, when Glenwood Park Lake is drained, we're going to have to go in and dredge out all the sediment that has flowed through the years and try and create some sediment blocks that will prevent additional sediment from flowing into that in the future."
The late photographer Mel Grubb took several aerial photos of Glenwood Lake that highlighted its muddy water. Invasive water weed from Brazil and blooming blue-green algae closed the lake to fishing and boating until the Green Valley-Glenwood Public Service District started using an algaecide designed to combat it. Much of the weed grew in shallower ends of the lake at the park's New Hope Road entrance.
Plans are being made for moving the dredged-up sediment to the Mercer County Landfill.
"Our landfill would love to have all that mud, but they can't put it down while it's waterlogged, but they also said they can dry it out there; so we can move it out pretty quickly, but it's going to take many truckloads," Archer said. "We don't have an estimate of how many."
Breastworks at the dams are scheduled to be replaced about every 50 years, Archer stated.
Glenwood Recreation Park will remain open while the lake is being drained and dredged. Dan Hale Reservoir will remain open while work on its dam is underway, Archer said.
Fishing and boating will not be available at Glenwood Lake, but this is why the county had been using over $500,000 in American Rescue Plan funds to create a new amphitheater stage, Americans with Disabilities Act compliant playground, pickle ball courts and other recreation assets.
"That's why we invested in increasing the activities that we have there, the pickle ball and the playground and the improvements we're making (at the New Hope Road entrance), he said. "That area is going to have to be lifted." Work there will include improving the playground and putt-putt golf course.
Glenwood Lake and Dan Hale Reservoir's fish and other aquatic life have to be considered, too.
"So we have discussed the possibility of having fishing tournaments at Glenwood Park and at Dan Hale in order to try and get people to come in and try to get some of the fish out," Archer said. "The last thing we want to do is drain the lake and leave a bunch of dead fish there. I think that would be traumatic for a lot of people. And it's hard to relocate them. We did talk about the possibilty of moving some down to Jimmy Lewis Lake, that kind of thing. We're trying to preempt that issue, and that's because we've seen in other places where they drained a lake and left a lot of dead fish. It's not a pleasant thing to see, also not a good thing for the anglers in our community."
— Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com
Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com
