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The Making of Red Lake

How to Change a Beautiful Lake Into a Silt Filled Lake

This website provides you information about how a beautiful lake in a golf neighborhood, built by a man with a vision - John Berry - fell into danger due to what we describe as a Village not working together to protect the lake and the area's environment. 

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Who Can Think This is OK?

Who Would Take This Beautiful Lake and Then Dump Silt Filled Water Into the Lake

Actually a Village is responsible for turning this lake into a sediment-filled lake which will likely die due to the damage done to it.  The Village is made up of State and Local Government, a Developer, Contractors, and more...

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Below you will find a series of what we saw, documented, and discovered during this experience.  This is updated as it happens, so be sure to check back in to see what is new.

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What's Going On?

July 20, 2020

We had been seeing some silt coming into the lake, but one day we woke up to this view.  We saw silt pouring into the lake and turning it red.  Of course our first question was, "what is causing the lake to change to red?"  So we took our first excursion up the trail of silt.  Click below for the pictures of what saw that day.

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This Has Got to Stop

July 30, 2020

When you think things couldn't get worse, they did.  Things were getting much worse.  We knew this had to stop or the lake wouldn't have a chance to survive as a lake.

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We Have Problems

Multiple Failures

We quickly discover there were multiple failures creating "Red Lake".  The top three failures were 1) the engineering plans were very weak for the volume and velocity of water and silt on this site, 2) the inspections by county and contractor were limited (if any), and 3) the maintenance of the site was limited or non-existent.

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More Human Error

Who Would Think This is OK?

When you think you have seen it all - you can sometimes still be surprised by what you see.  Corruption of the system to correct another problem.  Yeap - that is a hole cut through a silt fence and blocks, to make it easier for the silt to get to the lake.

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After the Rain

August 17, 2020

We just had to see what the site looked like after the half-inch of rain on the 15th.  This is what we found, and a little information about how the silt and water get to the lake from the storm drains.

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Compromised

August 18, 2020

Just when you think you have seen it all, you get surprised.  Now the contractor has put berms up to direct more silt and water to the compromised storm drains that have no silt controls.

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Storm Drains

August 23, 2020

My question is this. Why is this allowed to occur?  My second question is why is it allowed to continue?  According to the SC DHEC Stormwater BMP Handbook, this is all wrong.

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Loose Soil Sitewide

August 23, 2020

I believe it could be argued that none of the Best Management Practices were followed.  Which begs the question, is the SC DHEC Best Management Practices simply suggestions?

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Email with History

August 24, 2020

This is an email sent last week from the site inspector for Lexington County.  He gives an overview of what has transpired over the last month.  There is a lot happening this week.  We have to hope that the contractor gets the site in compliance.

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Our Only Desire

August 24, 2020

We want the contractor and developer to be successful. As all of us learned from our parents - "How to ALWAYS get to where you want to be?  Just Do The Next Right Thing."  Do the Next Right Thing for the environment, and for you.

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Golden Hills Note

August 26, 2020

After a few neighbors asked about the Berry's, I decided to reach out to them.  I wrote a note to Dian Berry and got a very nice response back from her.  We find they have the same concerns as we do.

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Stop Work

August 31, 2020

We just received notification from Mayor Steve that there has been a fine and a stop-work order put on the site.  We were not hoping for this.  Hopefully, the contractor is making the needed corrections.  We will update when we know more.

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Main Input Ditch

January 2021

This is a short explanation of the problem with the main input ditch due to too much water coming into an area with a velocity that is overwhelming a poorly engineered ditch.

Image by Markus Winkler

Update 2-8-21

February 8, 2021

This is an update of what has occurred over the last couple of months.  There has been a lot of developments since my last update.  I am sorry it took so long.

Comments, Questions, Want to Help...

Contact Us

Mike Husman
(803) 356-1055
Mike@WeGetBiz.com
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