Posted by horseygirl on April 3, 2018, 9:53 pm, in reply to "Re: Mr. Steve Adler"
Mr. Adler, does this plan involve taking the water directly to Horseshoe Lake under Lake Drive, or does it put the water in to the already stressed west end of Elm Slough, first?
Omg, building a tunnel through a hill to drain water is EXPENSIVE, defies nature and seems completely unnecessary.
If one looks on easily available satellite images of that area, it is obvious that the natural drainage from the southern end of Long Lake south of 162 across a natural wetland (could be improved with a ditch) to the east end of Elm Slough has been impeded by agriculture on privately owned former wetlands.
There is already a small ditch routing the water around the edge of the privately owned fields and toward the wetland that Randy Presswood has built, but it isn't nearly enough, sometimes, to handle the naturally occurring watershed that has been displaced by the draining of those farm fields.
There have always been laws in place here to protect the natural drainage of water and the local wetlands that are essential habitat to our varied and magnificent migratory birds. But,they seem to have been overlooked in this case, and the situation has most certainly contributed to our area flooding issues.
The west end of Elm Slough is already trying to take on more water than it can handle, due to the development of Emerald Meadows and the loss of natural absorption that has now turned to run-off.
The retention pond built there retains nothing, and is instead a direct funnel to the wooded wetland on Lake Drive. The houses along there have already flooded several times since the building of Emerald Meadows. Added water will only worsen their problems.
Another concern with ground water piped underground is creating a protected breeding ground for mosquitoes and vermin, like we don't have enough problems there, already, too.
Better than we taxpayers shouldering an outrageous sum for a solution that won't solve the problems for everyone, perhaps the landowner who has blocked and impeded the natural flow of water from the southern end of Long Lake across his property to the large wetland retention area east of highway 111 that flows under the highways directly in to Horseshoe Lake through huge existing culverts, should grant an easement across his property for an adequately sized and well maintained ditch to restore the original flow of water from Long Lake to HorseshoeLake.
Look on google maps, folks, any fool can see this--even me, lol....And, it's been going on for a very long time--but no one wants to discuss it as being any part of the problems, I've tried.
I'd love to hear others' thoughts, after them looking at the maps.
Tell me I'm wrong, Mr. Adler, because that's a lot of the public's money all of you engineers, union guys and public officials are proposing to spend to make the water do something it doesn't already do naturally. This idea smells bad, already, even before the water stagnates...
Please, look at the maps, people...
I need to start paying attention, again--these guys can sure find ways to spend our money, and this one is another huge boondoggle, imo...LOOK!!!
on April 3, 2018, 9:53 pm, in reply to "