Story originally printed in the Holmen Courier or online at www.holmencourier.com
Published - Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Temporary dam construction begins on Lake Delton
Lake Delton, one of the centerpieces of the Wisconsin Dells-area tourism economy, began its long journey to restoration when construction of a temporary dam started Friday to prevent further erosion of the lake.
Even so, village spokesman Tom Diehl says the lake won 't be refilled until next year.
Diehl said the temporary dam project, funded by a $160,000 grant from the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service, will return the normal flow of Dell Creek from Mirror Lake through the man-made dam to the Wisconsin River.
It involves building a temporary dam across Dell Creek and guiding it back to its natural channel.
"This is being done for one reason and one reason only -- to protect people 's property and stop the erosion of the silt and sedimentation into the Wisconsin River, " Diehl said Friday.
The temporary dam will divert water now going through the shoreline breach, which drained the lake June 9, grounding boats, destroying houses and torpedoing the tourist season for many of the resorts around the lake. The breach also took out a section of Highway A.
Diehl, a Lake Delton Village Board member and co-owner of the Tommy Bartlett Show, said once Dell Creek is diverted from the breach to the dam, then workers will start stabilizing both sides of the breach, angling the bank to stop erosion.
Diehl said work on the temporary dam should be done by the middle of next week. The village received the grant a few days ago but had to wait for the arrival of a huge, specially designed back hoe to start, he said.
The floodwaters displaced about 85,000 cubic yards of sand, state officials have reported.
All stories copyright 2006 Holmen Courier and other attributed sources.