OUTDOORS + RECREATION

More than a million gallons of water wasted out of Farr West pond

Jul 10, 2018, 6:41 PM | Updated: 7:20 pm

FARR WEST – Leaders in Farr West say they’re lucky a case of vandalism didn’t cause serious damage to the Smith Family Park pond.  They say over a million gallons were lost.

City leaders had harsh words for whoever altered the pond.  They issued a statement on their Facebook page, saying, “Some genius decided to mess with the control structure that regulates the water in the pond and let out over 1.6 million gallons lowering the pond by over a foot.”  Public Works Director Nate Carver says they could have potentially lost more than double that, had they not spotted the problem.

“We caught it early enough that the habitat didn’t have time to be damaged,” Carver says.

The city was able to recoup the water that had been lost, but, they don’t know how many fish may have been washed away.  Carver also says this was no accident.

“There were boards that were removed and lost.  Then, there were some that were displaced,” Carver says.

Even if it was done intentionally, it may not have been done maliciously.  Carver says the canals attached to the pond are popular with kids who may have just wanted to swim.

He says, “It might have been something where they thought if they release these boards they could have more water to tube in or float on or swim in or whatever.”

Even though the fishery won’t sustain any long-term damage, Carver says it was still a reckless thing to do.

“The Department of Natural Resources has a vested interest in this.  They’ve been stocking fish and planting vegetation along the shorelines making it a fishable fishery for the community,” he adds.

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More than a million gallons of water wasted out of Farr West pond