Now, the Conestee Foundation, the nonprofit that purchased the lake property in 2000, is trying to prevent the dam’s failure. Jeff Field has a similar perspective. Lake Conestee Nature Park: Lots to see - See 68 traveler reviews, 121 candid photos, and great deals for Conestee, SC, at Tripadvisor. (photo below show crossing at Main Street and Reedy River. Instead, Kirven said one of the private entities they're talking to is Duke Energy — one of the "corporate companies that remain in place that were present when the problem was started," Kirven said. South Carolina Public Radio News and Talk, South Carolina Public Radio News and Music. It is also an Important Bird Area of Global Significance, a regionally recognized Birding Hotspot, and the Upstate Partner with Audubon-South Carolina. Leider sind an den von Ihnen gewählten Daten keine Touren oder Aktivitäten verfügbar. What bothers him most is what is piled up on the north side of the dam’s wall. These waste materials are remnants of more than a half-century of manufactured gas production and other industrial processes. The current dam that forms Lake Conestee was built in 1892. We look forward to additional study DHEC is planning to conduct and working with the groups involved on a plan that serves the long-term needs of all.”. Now it will take on a new life as a multi-use development. "We look forward to working with these groups on a plan that serves the long-term needs of all involved," Mosier said in an email. Greenville County Council Chairman Butch Kirven said the county does not have the money in its budget to contribute to the project. A new dam is set to be built just 10 ft. downstream from the Lake Conestee dam. When severe flooding hit parts of Greenville County on Feb. 6, Conestee Foundation Executive Director Dave Hargett thought it might be the day the 128-year-old Lake Conestee dam — and the 2.3 million cubic yards of toxic sediment it contains — finally gave way and washed downstream. Work continues on those challenges and on the historic Lake Conestee Dam (now 129 years old), so the CF/LCNP team will continue that work going forward. By Nathaniel Cary, The Greenville News. Conestee Nature Park is 400 acres of woodlands and wetlands surrounding the shallow lake and along the Reedy River. The dam could become a National Priority List site, he said. Conestee dam could spell disaster for the Reedy River, owner says. 1 von 1 Aktivitäten in Conestee. (SC standards: H.E.3B.2, … Zinc and copper. Please update your bookmarks and links! Ray Farmer is the director of the South Carolina Department of Insurance. Follow Scott on Twitter @ByScottMorgan. Fishing and swimming at Lake Greenwood would cease while cleanup happened, Russian says; and public water would likely be contaminated. There are about 84,000 dams of various sizes and capacities in the United States; about 700 are managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is a partner agency with the Conestee Foundation. The new dam will cost $65 million + should be completed by the end of 2022. This dam also provided electricity to the community of Conestee before Greenville ever had electricity. Natur- & Tierschutzgebiete. (Greenville News) Civic Lake Ticoa. Some migrate here beginning in December. Grady, D.O. Natur- & Tierschutzgebiete. Given that they were foraging around a small, easily visible farm pond, I expected I would very quickly either be able to check them off or know that they had moved on. "We don't want to own this anymore. Lake Conestee Nature Park rebrands as a preserve, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy, Creation of new owner entity, transfer of properties and legal and administrative costs - $22 million. Lake Conestee Dam - 2pm, 06 Feb 2020, ~7000 cfs. We’re working with parties that may have contributed to the contamination. Completed in 1892, the dam, itself, faces challenges beyond flood-generated trash and debris. It was a power generation system for an Industrial Age business that, like thousands of other dams in the United States, still stands, far beyond its intended lifespan. And if there's good news, it's that the dam is still just in "poor" condition — it hasn't failed yet. Conestee Mill is a historic mill in the unincorporated community of Conestee, in Greenville County, South Carolina.. Archaeological investigations indicate that Cherokee routinely used the area as a camp site during the colonial period. Lake Conestee Nature Preserve is a 406 acre state-designated Wildlife Sanctuary; a conservation space for wild things, a world apart. He also says that a collapsed dam would not necessarily be a scene from a disaster movie this far downriver. But the foundation couldn’t pay for a new dam wall if it tried. The foundation was also awarded a $200,000 grant from the EPA in 2011 to perform another major repair. Colonial Pipeline, headquartered in Georgia, had seven spills from 1996 to 1999 and paid millions in settlements to South Carolina, landowners and federal Clean Water Act fines. The dam at Lake Conestee in Greenville holds back a football stadium (or two) worth of contaminated sediment. “It is work to own and operate a dam,” says Greenwood County Engineer Robert Russian. Lake Conestee dam on Thursday, February 2, 2017. But the foundation couldn’t pay for a new dam wall if it tried. “That is enough to fill [the Carolina] Panthers’ football stadium to the brim over once, maybe twice.”. After being built in 1972, it was drained and refilled in 1975 for dam valve repair. Lake Tiaroga, covering only 31 acres and being approximately 32 feet in depth near the dam, is our smallest lake; but it makes up in intimacy what it lacks in size. Historic Lake Conestee and the Lake Conestee Dam are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, along with parts of Conestee Mill. "We're gambling every day," Hargett said. "We met with (Hargett) about a month ago to discuss the findings of the dam study and how it could affect the mill property. It’s also only about 20 years younger. "It would be well over a billion dollars, a billion dollars to clean it up," Hargett said. Simply building a new wall and leaving it there is not all that has to happen. It is thought that during the Civil War, material for Confederate Army uniforms was manufactured at Conestee. Should the dam break, whatever is behind it will wash through the remainder of Greenville County, through Laurens County, and find its way here. Lake Conestee Nature Park is located at 601 Fork Shoals Rd., Greenville, SC 29605. “It’s a liability and an asset. Even Ray Farmer, the director of the South Carolina Department of insurance, can’t say what it would take to insure a dam, much less one of the scope of the one at Lake Conestee. Contact Genna at gcontino@gannett.com or on Twitter @GennaContino. Dave Hargett at the foot of Conestee Dam. “We’re looking at myriad agencies, local, state, and federal. Discover places to visit and explore on Bing Maps, like Lake Conestee Nature Park. Hargett said simply cleaning up the toxic sediment isn't an option. A production of South Carolina Public Radio. Walked from main entrance across river-otter bridge and to conestee dam. Lake Conestee, 2007: In 1890, only two mills were located in the area. There are numerous potential sources of impacted sediment at the dam. Russian says that any contaminated sediment that would reach Lake Greenwood mostly would settle into the 11,000-acre lakebed’s sediment. Hawthorn, and W. Perry. "The concern would be that if there were a failure and those sediments were released what it would do long term for the river and our ability to discharge into the river," ReWa CEO Graham Rich told the News. Dogs must be leashed at … From plastic bottles, trash bags, and even soda cans. It would keep any contaminated sludge contained and take pressure off of the existing, stressed wall that is slowly breaking apart (as evidenced by the brittle, glassy crunch of stone flakes underfoot when Hargett and I walked out to the middle of the dam last month), It would also preempt a gargantuan cleanup effort that would involve federal agencies and a whole lot of time and money. 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