As most know, heavy September rains have exposed a structural issue with the dam and caused the city to take immediate and prudent precautions to lower the lake level – which removes water pressure off the dam. At present, the lake has been lowered by ten feet, and this has negatively affected homeowners, especially those who live on the lake. However, this event happening at the end of the boating season is one positive. Another more important positive is the lake bottom has been exposed in our coves, which gives homeowners and BLHA an opportunity to address the buildup of silt much less expensively than if the lake were full.

BLHA commissioned a study that indicates the lake contains at least 7000 cubic yards of silt in nine different coves, with heavy concentrations in several. But in order to remove the silt, three ingredients are needed:

• access to each of the coves, individually, which must be granted by individual homeowners,
• a location or locations to place the silt once removed, and
• funds – BLHA has approximately $110,000 of SLAT dollars, of which some or all could be applied to this project.

A number of complications have been identified. First, it's too expensive to dig silt from one cove and truck it out through another, so BLHA must have access into each of the affected coves, individually. Without access, we cannot remove silt from that cove. If you are a homeowner who lives in or close to one of the coves and would be willing to provide access to the lake bottom, please contact a BLHA board member or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . You would be a HERO to your "covemates".

Second, suitable placement sites are difficult to find. A proposal has been made to place silt at the beach, behind the organic garden. This is a viable option but approximately 20 feet of scrub pines behind the garden would need removing. Member feedback to this idea can be provided to your BLHA board or to the same email listed above. BLHA is currently researching several other options, but these involve negotiating with third parties and dealing with city, county and ARC regulations. If you have ideas on where the silt may be placed, again, please contact a BLHA board member or use the above email address.

Third, the project has been preliminarily estimated to cost $140,000 assuming $20/cubic yard to remove and deposit. And this estimate could be low if a placement site within or very close to the city limits cannot be located. So, we will not be able to remove all the silt form the lake, even if we spent the entire fund.

Because of the complications identified above, BLHA is approaching this project on a cove-by-cove basis. Once cove-specific access has been identified, and once a suitable location for placing silt has been found, cove- specific work could theoretically begin. Of course, funds need to be approved, and a suitable contractor must be selected. There will be additional updates for homeowners, and a membership vote will be taken at the January BLHA meeting to approve this project – in whatever form the members decide.

Several homeowners have expressed a desire to excavate silt in front of their property and place the silt on their property, primarily to fill in low areas in their yard. For those that are considering this, please communicate your desire to the BLHA, as there are certain restrictions and common sense items that you need to be aware of. And, BLHA is willing to work jointly with homeowners who are willing to take silt in quantities larger than just in front of their property. For instance, if you could provide cove access and take the silt from an entire cove, the BLHA would heavily subsidize your work.