Dominion presents solutions to Lake Shawnee residents after clay from construction site turns water brown
VENN
POWHATAN COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) -- Dominion Energy has presented solutions to Lake Shawnee residents after the lake's water turned brown. This comes after residents learned that clay from a Dominion solar farm construction site was rolling into the lake when it rained.
In a meeting on Tuesday, April 8, Dominion presented the Lake Shawnee Landowners Association Board three long-term options to choose from to get the lake clean and fix the runoff problem. In two weeks, the board and Dominion will meet again to discuss what to move forward with.
Courtesy of Michael Pease.
The first option Dominion presented is to allow sediment to settle while they work aggressively to grow the grass on the site. This will help absorb rain.
Another option is to install water filtration systems to filter out runoff sediment.
The last option is to use flocculants, a substance that will bind with the runoff sediments and drop it to the bottom of the lake.
In the meantime, the board approved for Dominion to hire a biologist to test the water and wildlife in the lake to evaluate the impact on the health of the community. Dominion also said they're actively pumping water from the stormwater basins on site and conducting an aggressive seeding campaign to accelerate the grass growth.
Lake Shawnee resident Mike Pease told 8News he feels confident about Dominion's effort to earn residents' trust back and their "stepping up and showing real concern about our community."
"It's hard for any of us to not continue to worry when the pollution of the lake persists and shouldn't have happened in the first place," he said. "I think we are all still processing with a cautious optimism that the plans they present will return things back to normal."
Dominion told 8News they're dedicated to fixing things.
“We’re continuing to work very hard to stabilize the solar site and minimize the stormwater runoff,” Dominion Energy spokesperson Tim Eberly said. “Though the area has continued to get some heavy rain, we’ve also made significant progress on the site. We had a productive meeting with Lake Shawnee residents this week and presented them with several longer-term options to address the matter. And we’re going to work closely with them to determine the best path forward.”
