.jpg)
For the past few weeks, the water in the Maury River has looked a bit murkier than usual, due to the annual draining of Lake Merriweather to allow dam operator Mike Jolly to clean out debris that has gotten into the lake over the past few years.
The lake is drained every year for this kind of cleanup, but it usually occurs after Labor Day.
The early cleanup led to two critical letters to the editor appearing in this week’s paper and concerns by other residents.
Jolly told The News-Gazette that it’s being done in August this year to take advantage of the drier weather (the lake bed needs to be dry in order to clear the debris) and due to the fact that, for the past two years, rainy weather in the fall has prevented debris from being completely cleaned up. Jolly said he’s cleaned a number of different things out of the lake, from dead cows to washing machines to propane tanks and various other types of “household debris,” as well as large trees. He said that he hopes to finish draining the lake by the end of this week.
Many residents who live along the river have called Jolly about the condition of the water over the past several weeks.
“My phone has literally rung off the wall,” he said. “I’ve tried to explain to people that if we don’t clean this debris up, it could get into the dam and cause issues. There’s nothing in writing that says we have to clean this debris up. We could easily let it go on through the dam and go on through Goshen Pass.”
Jolly works with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality on this process every year and, as long as the draining of the lake doesn’t send any silt downstream, the lake can be drained. He also noted that water samples are taken during the summer and tested as the lake is used for swimming during the summer.
“The water that’s coming down the river is safe,” he said. “It’s just a different [type of] water. It’s water that’s been sitting and settling in the lake. The temperature’s a little different than river water.”
While it isn’t the primary purpose of the dam, Jolly said that lowering the lake can assist in flood control. When the lake is lowered, if a hurricane hits the area, the lake can refill and prevent excess amounts of water from flowing downstream and causing potential flooding. Jolly said that most of the people who he’s explained the process to have been understanding, but others “don’t want to hear it.”
“I care about the people downstream because I live here,” he said. “I’ve got to listen to these people, but I can’t give you ice cream and cake at the same time. I understand their frustration, but you need to understand my frustration being a dam operator. If I’m trying to operate this dam doing flood control, and one of these large trees gets in there, that messes me up [and] I’m unable to do my job.”
While some people who live along the river have taken issue with the fact that the draining of the lake is occurring earlier this year, others don’t like the fact that the lake is drained at all.
Jay Gilliam, who lives in Rockbridge Baths, first became aware of the fact that the lake was drained every year in 1991 and feels that “the damage to the river over the years has been incredible” due to the amount of sediment he says is released from the Little Calfpasture River and Lake Merriweather into the Maury River.
Excessive sediment in the river, he said, can “kill and diminish” the populations of the nearly 30 species of macroinvertibrates that live in or near the river, including mayflies, stoneflies and crayfish, which impacts the food chain of the animals in and near the river.
“When there’s excessive sediment in a river, it causes the river to be biologically degraded, starting with the aquatic macroinvertibrates,” he said.
Gilliam told the News-Gazette that he is “absolutely convinced” that the main reason the lake is drained every year is so that Jolly and the Boy Scouts of America, who own the lake, can avoid dredging it, allowing weather to flush the excess sediment out of the lake bed to “keep the lake deep enough to be used as a recreational facility.” He added that he doesn’t “put much stock” in Jolly’s explanation of cleaning debris from the lakebed.
“My feeling is this has been a travesty as long as I’ve been aware of it,” he said. “I think it causes the river to be less of a proper habitat for fish and the surrounding animals that use the river. They make it sound like it’s perfectly normal and everything is routine and it’s not. I don’t think you’ll find many lakes that are allowed to be drained down for the majority of the year. It’s just not kosher.”
