Walked from main entrance across river-otter bridge and to conestee dam. South Carolina has more than 10,000 dams. Detailed information about dams in the United States is available through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’, More information about Lake Conestee and the Conestee Foundation is available. Not My Dam Problem Lake Conestee Nature Park’s history is a connected story of natural land form (floodplain) leading to land use (dam/industry/farming) and human impacts on the land and water. Fed by water from Lake Tiaroga and other small tributaries, it is approximately 92 feet deep, its surface is 2810 feet above sea level. ReWa has an interest in the new dam, because the dam crosses the Reedy River where ReWa discharges treated water. In the last ten years: We've gone from fewer than 20,000 visitors to roughly 120,000, or perhaps 150,000 or more per year. It’s open daily from dawn to dusk. He’s also sure that he’s frustrated with the fact that everyone knows what to do, but nothing is getting done past endless meetings and talk. The current dam was rated “poor” in condition by DHEC back in December + the inspection also noted seepage, deterioration, trash + woody debris. That’s why Duke is in this conversation. Hawthorn, and W. Perry. According to GuideStar, the Conestee Foundation reports $411,448 in gross receipts and holds assets of just over $3.6 million. In the 1890s the existing mill building was constructed; and about 1892, the rock dam was raised to its present height, creating a lake of 130 acres (53 ha). Should the dam break, whatever is behind it will wash through the remainder of Greenville County, through Laurens County, and find its way here. Media in category "Lake Conestee Nature Park" The following 12 files are in this category, out of 12 total. Lake Conestee Nature Preserve is a 406 acre state-designated Wildlife Sanctuary; a conservation space for wild things, a world apart. The date the first dam was built on the Reedy River is unknown, but by 1892, the demand for power had grown and the rock dam was raised to its present height, creating the 130 acre Lake Conestee. The cost to build it is currently estimated at $65 million. But he is sure the dam at Boyd Millpond would get overwhelmed. These waste materials are remnants of more than a half-century of manufactured gas production and other industrial processes. At the point where the road crosses the Reedy River there is a good view of the Historic Lake Conestee Dam which once powered Historic Conestee Mill. “Things that are used in industrial processing and plating” he says. “Because we didn’t contribute to the problem, I can’t see us contributing to the solution,” he says. Dave Hargett is the co-founder of the Conestee Foundation, a small nonprofit that owns the dam six miles south of Downtown Greenville. This is the part that confused me. ASCE says that while dam failures are rare, they are also among the most potentially catastrophic. Like Lake Ticoa, it has had two lives. Insurance for something like a dam operates in what’s called the surplus market – a sort of alternate universe of coverage for anything outside the mainstream, where an insurer decides that the uncommon thing being insured is worth the risk. Lake Ticoa, covering almost 75 acres, is Connestee Falls’ second-largest and deepest body of water. I decided to visit the new Lake Conestee Nature Park recently created by Upstate Forever. The mill was a large employer in the area and turned a profit from it's opening until it closed in 1939. In 1862 McBee sold the mill to J.W. Foggy morning on Conestee lake, SC - Duration: 1:27. aditya yerra 107 views. Nr. Once covering 130 acres, the lake slowly filled with sediment from industrial waste making the once vast body of water only about 90 percent of its original size. “It’s a liability and an asset. That is "Big Water" for a little river. All you need to participate in this free event is a smart phone + the GooseChase App. "We're gambling every day," Hargett said. Lake Conestee Nature Preserve, formerly Lake Conestee Nature Park, opened in 2006, is a 400-acre (160 ha) preserve along three miles of the Reedy River in Conestee, South Carolina, with 13 miles (20.9 km) of trails, more than 6 miles (9.7 km) of them paved and 1 mile (1.6 km) of boardwalk. Field is the executive director of the Laurens County Water & Sewer Commission, and says that Laurens also did not contribute to the ever-increasing pile of metals-rich sediment sitting behind the Lake Conestee dam. It’s been that way since the Benjamin Harrison administration. 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. What’s good about toxic sludge being locked up by gluey sediment in one place is that literal tons of poison never made it to the communities south of Greenville County and into the state’s network of waterways that hub out of Lake Greenwood. In 2000, Hargett started the Conestee Foundation and used settlement funds from the Colonial Pipeline spill to purchase Lake Conestee and its dam. In 1925, Conestee Mills filed a lawsuit to stop the pollution, a lawsuit that would pave the way for further environmental protection for this and other areas. "We can’t stop it.”. Hiking, biking, jogging and wildlife observation are permitted. J B Greer Pond Dam D-2888 ist ein Damm in South Carolina. J B Greer Pond Dam D-2888 ist liegt südöstlich von Sunset Forest. “When I looked an EPA official in the eye and told them the story, and used that number, he said, ‘No. It would be more harmful.". It’s also only about 20 years younger. 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 … Two large Pileated woodpeckers and another heron at South Bay. The Conestee Foundation’s Role. The Conestee mill is also downstream from the dam, and part of the land needed for the project is owned by WCM Global Wealth, which owns the mill property. What worries Dave Hargett, a retired engineer and co-founder of the Conestee Foundation, is not just that this 128-year-old dam sitting six miles south of Downtown Greenville might break and send a lot of water rushing down the Reedy River. 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. “Such insurance would be prohibitively expensive, especially to a small non-profit organization like Conestee Foundation,” Hargett wrote in an email. A production of South Carolina Public Radio. Lake Conestee’s polluted water is currently kept at bay by a stone masonry dam built in 1892, according to Hargett. Another key stakeholder, Greenville County Council Chairman Butch Kirven said he's not sure about the timeline, but that there is a "sense of urgency" surrounding the project. It took ownership of it in 1939, ran the plant until 1951, and then tore the buildings down. Historic Lake Conestee and the Lake Conestee Dam are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, along with parts of Conestee Mill. If the dam were to fail, ReWa could most likely continue to discharge but would have more restrictions. The snag is, they also all agree that someone else should pay for it. It is also an Important Bird Area of Global Significance, a regionally recognized Birding Hotspot, and the Upstate Partner with Audubon-South Carolina. Previous Conestee coverage: Lake Conestee Nature Park rebrands as a preserve. The heap of contaminated sediment at Lake Conestee came largely from industrial mills and manufactured gas plants, or MGPs. Limited to 30 students per day. Students will discover these connections and more through three stations: History/Human Impact; Soil/Land; river morphology/impact of … 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. Grady, D.O. Hargett has asked DHEC to include a $185,000 proviso in its 2017-2018 budget to fund an engineering study that will help the foundation identify a long-term solution for the dam. , the American Society of Civil Engineers’ (ASCE) latest report card on the country’s infrastructure, according to the state Emergency Management Division. "It would be well over a billion dollars, a billion dollars to clean it up," Hargett said. "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. Mercury and vanadium. “We’re working on that,” Hargett says. "We're in support of repairing and replacing the dam, but there's still a lot of work that needs to be worked out. But Duke Energy, owner of a former MGP site on Bramlett Road in Greenville, is. It is also an Important Bird Area of Global Significance, a regionally recognized Birding Hotspot, and the Upstate Partner with Audubon-South Carolina. The new dam will cost $65 million + should be completed by the end of 2022. Lots of other birds easy to spot when the leaves have fallen. The Conestee Foundation owns the Lake Conestee dam and is, as far as DHEC is concerned, responsible for its health. 1 von 1 Aktivitäten in Conestee. DHEC also says if a dam is in poor condition, further investigations and studies are necessary. Ray Farmer is the director of the South Carolina Department of Insurance. It's too much liability.". Scott Morgan is the Upstate Multimedia Reporter for South Carolina Public Radio. (Photo by Will Crooks) But Duke’s history with the site (and the fact that it’s one of the largest energy companies in the United States) has most of the other players in this story hoping that the company will just cut a check. 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