Thank you for you interest in learning more of the actions being taken by your High Rock Lake Association in regards to the growing problem of silt/sand deposition filling in High Rock Lake at an alarming speed.
Some residents have accomplished some level of local excavation/dredging in the past and have witnessed how the silt/sand is quickly re-deposited and continues unabated which frustrates these efforts and has very high cost. This problem is growing in scope at a much accelerated rate in recent years and will have a detrimental affect on the entire surrounding communities...it is a resource of precious water we are blessed to have in our region of North Carolina. We or our children could lose it unless action is taken now.  Our HRLA Renewable Resource Action Committee is pursuing a longtime solution to at least slow this natural process of filling in the rivers and lakes with sand/silt...it is a natural process we can slow and possibly reverse to some extent. We recognize a long-term fix will require engineering solutions such as sand/silt traps upriver to slow the deposition into High Rock Lake. There are other possible solutions, but local excavation/dredging alone will offer only temporary relief and be very expensive to home owners. Our committee action plan will update a 2001 feasibility study that cost $100,000 back in 2001/2002. Once we have current data we can then begin a public awareness program to our communities in Davidson and Rowan Counties. Our approach is to emphasize how High Rock Lake is filling in very fast and we can take steps now to slow or perhaps stop this accelerated river and Lake aging process. The negative ramifications will extend far beyond residents living around this body of water. When the lake was first created in 1928 by the Army Corps of Engineers they predicted it would have a life span of 100 years before it would fill back in...that would be 2028! The solutions will be expensive, requiring major grant funding on the state and federal levels to extend the life of this water resource.
HRLA has identified the engineering team with two firms capable of updating the original study. These engineers plan to use the Swearingen Creek area as one primary source of data collection to update this report. This updated report will provide us the ability to present documented evidence of this process that affects more than just our lakefront residents...we will need wide community support to write and receive the grants necessary to fund solutions.
The engineers will be reaching out to residents severely affected by this silt/sand deposition for background, history, and data collection.

HRLA will receive a quote from the engineering team we have selected on or around September 8th. We are hopeful our organization can afford this phase one scope of study in order to begin our community awareness campaign and grant writing processes.

I hope you will become an active member of HRLA and we invite you to join our committee focused on this issue.