Posted on August 9, 2023
Local leaders are banding together to take the first steps to solve a major problem in the middle of High Rock Lake.
A massive sandbar is forming near the entrance of Swearing Creek, and much of the northern part of the lake is getting shallower by the day.
Nicole Cooper watches it happen from the back porch of her home.
“When we moved, we had a beautiful lakefront property. We moved here for life on the lake and all the beauty and recreation and excitement. Now we have inches of water,” Cooper said.
Cooper’s dock is surrounded by sandy, muddy, marsh-like water. Her family had to move the boat they purchased from their personal dock to a different location because the water is so shallow.
She can’t take her kayaks out because of the sand and other debris building up.
Cooper and others have watched boaters get stuck on the sandbar.
She loves where she lives but worries that as the depth of the lake shrinks, her lakeside community will as well.
“Between the cost of pier permits, the cost of taxes that we pay, you won’t have residents moving into the area,” Cooper said.
Cooper has watched multiple homes sit for sale on her street.
County Commissioners Todd Yates and James Shores know just how important High Rock Lake is to Davidson County.
“It’s extremely frustrating. That’s what these folks who are living here on this end of the lake have to deal with each day,” Shores said.
County leaders commissioned a study in 2001 to analyze the build-up and how to fix it but didn’t move forward because of the price tag.
“It’s the money,” Yates said. “Do you spend $60 million on the lake or do you spend $60 million on the new high school?”
On Monday night, Rowan County Commissioners approved a contract to partner with Geosyntech.
The company will conduct a study to research the effects of the sediment build-up and present county leaders with a plan to fix it.
Yates and Shores are joining Rowan County Commissioners and other lake stakeholders to form a group to talk about what the study finds and how to solve the issues.
“With everybody together, I’m really hoping we’ll be able to pool our efforts and our resources and make something happen here,” Yates said.
Leaders want people like Cooper and the thousands of visitors who take advantage of the lake to be able to enjoy it for years to come.
“I’m hoping they’re listening … I’m very positive they will. Rowan is setting the groundwork for us. All we have to do is follow along,” Cooper said.
FOX8 reached out to Geosyntech for more information about a study timeline and potential price tag but has not heard back.
