Published: December 06, 2005 12:26 am      

City continues dredging at Graham Park lake

GREENVILLE — It had usually been referred to as a lake, but in reality Graham Park’s star attraction was nothing more than a fair sized pond.

Even the pond is no more, thanks to the lingering drought, which has left nothing but a big puddle of water at one end of the park. The remnants of the “lake” wound up as just a hole filled with damp dirt.

For the past two weeks, City of Greenville crews have been dredging the site, hoping to eventually restore the pond. The effort will take a while longer, but city officials are warning residents not to venture into the area, because even when empty, the lake is still hazardous to cross.

Two bulldozers shove large piles of soil toward the western edge of the excavation, where a back hoe scoops the mountain up bit by bit and dumps it into a waiting truck. Moments later, the truck leaves, only to be replaced by another and the process repeats itself.

“We’ve been getting 60 trucks a day through here,” said City Manager Karen Daly.

Even so, the job is expected to take more time than first thought.

“The original estimate was that it would take about a month-and-a-half,” Daly said. “Now it looks like it will be closer to two months.”

A plan to dredge the lake had already been in the works, but the drought helped move the timetable up a bit.

“This is a great opportunity, since it is so dry,” Daly said. “We are also going to be making it deeper.”

The work began around Thanksgiving and should be finished some time in mid-to-late January.

One significant feature of the park will not be returning.

“We took out Duck Island,” Daly said, referring to the spot of dry land in the middle of the lake where water fowl would congregate.

The soil is being transported to two pastures in the Peniel area, whose owners volunteered to take the dirt off the city’s hands.

Once the dredging is finished, it will be up to Mother Nature to fill the lake back in.

“My understanding is we could use a hydrant, but because of the water shortage we decided not to do that,” Daly said.

Given the fact there has been virtually no significant precipitation locally for months, the lake may remain empty for a long time, which is one reason why Daly wanted to issue a warning against park visitors trying to walk across the site.

While the dirt may appear dry on the surface, just underneath it is still loose and moist.

“It really can swallow things up,” Daly said. Several walkers have found out the hard way, losing shoes to the mud.

Worse, a 12-year-old boy became trapped in the muck up to his waist over the weekend, requiring the Greenville Fire Department to extricate him.

“The dirt really is quicksand-like,” Daly said. “It is very dangerous.”