What's down there? Cleaning out Saylorville Lake's giant drain
It’s a historic week at Saylorville Lake as crews are unclogging the giant drain that goes through the dam. The process hasn’t been performed since the dam was built 45 years ago.
The soggy debris doesn't look pretty, but lake manager Jeff Rose says it's just what he wants to see.
“I'm very happy. Very happy,” said Rose.
Rose is supervising cleanup at the lake. Crews are pulling up tons of debris that is blocking the 500-foot-long, 20-foot-wide drain tube that leads from the lake, through the dam, to the Des Moines River on the other side.
“So far, it's kind of what we expected. It's nothing but woody debris. Some good-sized trees have already been pulled out. and branches and things of that nature,” said Rose.
A few weeks ago, a dive team surveyed the drain grate to see how much debris has collected over the decades. The diver and the crew are back now using a crane to lift it out and haul it away. Eventually, the lake garbage will be burned.
“After 45 years of high water and there is just a lot of debris and so we want to get this pile of woody debris out, so it doesn't affect our outflows,” Rose said.
Virgil Bright spent the day fishing on the other side of the dam. He noticed the side effect of shutting off the dam outflow during the cleaning. The Des Moines River levels have fallen, and the riverbed is exposed.
“It's really weird. It's the second time, I've never seen it like this. Never this long before,” said Bright.
It's now a hot spot for fishermen, although Bright is not having much success.
“Just trying catch some catfish but they're not cooperating too good,” said Bright.
The cleanup crew stays it's ahead of schedule and may finish the cleanup by the end of next week.