Dredging Lake Contrary may not provide long-term solution

By Chris Fortune

A potential multi-million-dollar project to revive a South St. Joseph landmark may not prevent the same issues that led to its decay from rising again.

Buchanan County is considering a project to dredge Lake Contrary, and it would carry an estimated $7-9 million price tag.

Many residents in St. Joseph, especially those who live near the lake, support the project, but it may need to be revisited over time. The natural processes that led to the oxbow lake becoming shallow will likely continue.

“All ponds and lakes have nonmoving water, and so the sediment tends to drop out of suspension and collect in the bottom of the lake,” Michael Weller, Surface Water Section Chief with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, said.

Weller said it is part of an oxbow lake’s life cycle to go through sedimentation and become shallow. It’s a process that can also be seen at nearby Sugar and Bean Lakes.

“Oxbow lakes, generally speaking, being pretty shallow bodies of water, it doesn’t take a whole lot of sedimentation to cause them to be noticeably and appreciably shallower,” he said.

Dredging could not prevent sedimentation from occurring over time. Weller has not heard of an oxbow lake being dredged and reclaimed as a lake, but he said it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t happen.

“Generally speaking, it would not be a permanent solution,” Weller said.

One Lake Contrary resident said she supports the project even if it must be revisited in the future.

“South End doesn’t really have much of anything down here really besides Hyde Park and the park down here at the lake,” Brandy Tarwater said. “I would really like to see them consider going forward with this project. Everybody would be happy down here because that’s what everybody’s in the dump about, is that, you know, we’re losing our lake.”

Tarwater remembers visiting the area with family on better days.

“When I was a little girl, my dad used to just bring us down here and drop us off and play for a little bit and come back and pick us up,” she said.

But every time she steps outside of her home, it is a reminder of what the lake has become.

“I just live right across from the lake,” she said. “You walk outside my house, or trailer, you can literally see the lake and see it drying up more and more.”

County Commissioner Ron Hook is another person who would like to see the return of what was once a community asset.

“I think it’s just a great opportunity for a city our size to have a recreational lake,” he said. “Some place to go a short distance to enjoy, lake activities, boating, fishing, swimming, things of that sort.”

The county commissioners have not decided whether they will make the decision to dredge the lake themselves or put it in voters’ hands.

If the project were to proceed, the 300-acre lake would be dredged in three sections over three seasons.

“We’re going to do one at a time,” Hook said. “We’re going to do it in sections so we can see if this is worth what we’re wanting to do.”

The county has hired an outside agency in the meantime to drill into the lake bed to determine the silt and water content. It is a requirement from the Army Corps of Engineers before it issues any permits for the project.