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| Paola, Lakemary team up to fund pond project |
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| News - Paola | |||
| Written by Bob Harrington | |||
| Friday, 03 July 2009 10:26 | |||
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Work on renovation of Lakemary Pond began last week with cutting through the dam to drain the impoundment. The renovation is a joint water retention and recreation project between Lakemary Center and the city of Paola. “The city’s involvement is limited to concerns of water run-off,” said Jay Wieland, Paola city manager. “We talked with Lakemary Center about two years ago when a breach in the dam occurred about assisting with repairs.” He added the city is providing $7,500 toward the project from the city’s sewer and storm management fund. The pond serves as a retention for water runoff from the city streets to the north and the development there, as well as a recreation area for Lakemary residents. According to the Natural Resources and Conservation Service, there is about 35 acres draining toward the pond. Most of the drainage area is grass and pavement. The 2.1-surface-acre pond dam was cut through Saturday morning to allow water to escape. A fish salvage was planned, but it was not feasible due to the amount of silt in the bottom of the pond, said Bill Craig, president of Lakemary Center. “I was told there may be two or three deep pools in the pond where the fish could congregate and be salvaged,” Craig said, “but it was silted nearly level without any deep pools. The silt was so deep it wasn’t feasible to salvage the fish.” Nearly all of the fish that died, or were taken by wildlife, were carp. Several years ago, carp were stocked in the pond by the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks for a fishing derby held in connection with a National Hunting and Fishing Day. At that time, biologists deemed it was not feasible to stock game fish in the pond due to silting and water pollution. The pond was originally constructed more than 50 years ago by the Ursuline Sisters, Ken Northern said. He added he doesn’t recall exactly when it was built but it was in the ’50s sometime. The pond originally was constructed to water a dairy herd maintained by the Ursuline Sisters. “It originally was eight to 10 feet deep,” Craig said. Water depth was less than three to four feet when the dam was cut to drain it. Silt was estimated to be up to six feet in depth. Jerry Donner Service of La Cygne has the contract to renovate the pond. Work on removing the silt began Wednesday morning. Donner said silt will be pushed and hauled out to the original pond depth and the north end of the impoundment dug deeper. The silt was deposited on the backside of the present dam. It will take some time for the silt to dry, Donner said. When dry, which may take a year depending on the weather, it will be leveled out if necessary and grass seed planted. “We’ve been taking some heat over the dead fish,” Donner said, “but there was little we could do about it.” A 12-inch overflow pipe is to be installed, Craig said, to prevent erosion from water running around the end of the dam. When the renovation is complete and the pond filled with water, Craig said, “We hope to work with the Department of Wildlife and Parks in making it a nice recreation area.”
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