Posted on August 28, 2024
DES MOINES, Iowa –Clear Lake is launching a $25 million cleanup project in hopes of improving the lake’s visibility after decades of damage by farm and yard runoff.
Local residents and leaders have teamed up with the state to set up a massive dredging project at the northern Iowa lake, the state’s third-largest. It is expected to cut pollution by two-thirds at the west end of the lake.
The lake pumps $60 million in the local economy each year despite being on the state’s list of seriously polluted waterways.
Iowa State University researchers predict cleaner water could bring another $30 million a year in local businesses because more people would use the lake for water-skiing and boating, sailing and world-class walleye fishing.
Jeff Vonk, director of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, expects the water quality to start improving a couple of years after the dredging is done in 2009.
“People I believe will be startled at how quickly and how much the water clarity will improve,” Vonk said.
Dredging of the lake’s west end, along with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ $2 million project that will help control silt-stirring carp in Ventura Marsh, should help the lake lose its current green hue.
The dredging of what locals call the “little lake,” because it looks like a pond within the lake, will take out enough silt to cover the Iowa Capitol complex site 10 feet deep. The lake will be 28 feet deep in places, instead of the current six.
The spot will act as a settling basin, helping to clear out pollutants.
