Water Woes — County Tries to Resuscitate Fading Patriot Lake in Battling Drought at Shelby Farms

By Pamela Perkins / perkins@commercialappealcom

Shelby County officials are examining ways to save fast- shrinking Patriot Lake at Shelby Farms Park, a victim of three years of below normal rainfall.

The Shelby County Commission on Monday approved $100,000 to try to keep the badly eroded lake from becoming a puddle.

With the lake about 6 feet below its normal level, emergency measures are already being taken. But many of the lake’s devoted users are wondering why those measures haven’t happened sooner and faster.

“There is serious concern about what is happening from a very large segment of the community,” said Rev. Vincent Ira Ciaramitaro, a vocal member of a group of kayakers who use the lake. “On a regular basis I get e-mails, calls, and stopped in public to ask what is going on from those who know of my longtime support and use of Shelby Farms.”

Laura Adams, executive director of nonprofit Shelby Farms Park Alliance, said the lake may be losing an inch a day.

The $100,000 allocated for the lake will pay to stabilize the banks, she said.

“There’s no definitive right way to correct an erosion problem, so we’re just going to get some more input into what the different options are.”

Ted Fox, the county’s public works director, said the lake has been the victim of three years of below normal rainfall, including this year’s drought, as well as erosion that worsens the lower the water gets.

In June, he said, the county spent about $17,000 to create a channel to divert rain runoff into the lake to help. But it’s hardly rained enough to be effective.

County officials also realized a few weeks ago that the pump that pulls water from the Memphis aquifer and pours it into the lake was not working properly. They were trying to gauge the expense of operating the pump 24 hours every day, which they hadn’t been doing.

“It had been a while since we’ve done this,” Fox said, adding that the county had been avoiding running the pump because of costs. “We have to stay as close as we can to the operating budget.”

John Charles Wilson, president of privately managed Agricenter International at Shelby Farms, said it costs between $400 to $1,000 a month for the electricity to operate the pump at 1 1/2 -acre Catch’em Lake, which is much smaller than Patriot Lake.

“But they have a revenue stream going into it,” Fox said, about pay-to-fish Catch’em Lake. “You’re also talking a couple of acres versus 56 acres. That’s a lot of evaporation.”

Fox said the Patriot Lake pump is being fixed. How long and how often it runs will depend on rainfall. He said county officials prefer to rely on the new channel. Pumped water could be used along with the channel if rainfall is not adequate.

He also said the ability to raise grants to keep the pump running will be a benefit of the nonprofit Shelby Farms Park Conservancy, which takes over management of most of the park on Aug. 1.

“The important thing to get to the public is … the government is taking action and the fixes that we make are long-term.

– Pamela Perkins: 529-6514

(c) 2007 Commercial Appeal, The. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.