Local News Comments

Nice work! Great brochure. I hope folks read it and implement some of its suggestions on their own property.

that "lake " seriously needs dredging. it has for twenty years. the north shore is the sand bar from sullivan creek. the south shore is a subdivision, asphalt and concrete,its watershed area goes from big hill to twain harte.all the runoff from every oil drip from every car goes into the phoenix settling basin

Besides the large sedimentation problem, I know that a large percent of those homes were set up as vacation homes, for part time of the year for lees than a full family. The septic systems as well. Now folks live in these places full time and with full families and the septic systems can't keep up!

I already got my mailer. It's really disturbing. According to the data in it, the lake is already seriously polluted. It lists all kinds of pollutants. Why are they still giving us our drinking water out of it?
If it's already that polluted and will cost the TUD ratepayers millions of dollars to clean it up, only to get polluted again, why not just drain and fill it with soil? Then sell the land for probably $10 million to pay off the ridiculous debts that TUD has already accumulated? It should sell easily, since it would make a great place for a new subdivision.

Jlienhoff, then you would upset the privilege few and violated the property rights, My question why has TUD neglected this issue for so long? This says a lot about the quality of our drink water.

@jleinhoff:

Interesting suggestion, but there are a few problems with it. 1) Phoenix Reservoir is used for water storage, AND flood control, filling chopper buckets, and is a critical wildlife habitat (wetlands). We could built huge (expensive) water storage tanks, OR we could have a new modern water treatment facility further up the hill, say at the old Sierra Pines golf course. But some rate payers don't want to pay for that. 2) Federal laws make it nearly impossible to destroy wetlands these days (for good reason). 3) Much of the land UNDER the water is privately owned by surrounding homeowners - not TUD. 4) More subdivisions are the problem to begin with.

We need to deal with the crud coming down the hill from the watershed into the reservoir.

This problem has been buried by "the powers that be" in this community for decades. It's bad for the tourist industry and property values when people are aware of how polluted our local creeks and swimming holes are (Crystal Falls Lake, Brentwood Lake, Twain Harte Lake, Phoenix Lake, etc.).

Till they open Phoenix Lake res to the public, I could really give a rats butt about it, Let the people that live around the lake an enjoy it benefits, pay for the clean up. Not one penny of my tax money should go to restoring the lake.

SO true, Lorax. Thank you for the info.

I know that Crystal Falls, Brentwood and Twain Harte Lakes have been horrible for SO LONG! People get sick and rashes after swimming in Twain Harte because it is so bad. There are also ducks and feces.

But there is definitely benefit for some "powers that be". Tourism, like you said and the elite that come up from the Bay area to stay in their rent-inflated cabins and enjoy a local watering hole, without being bothered by the "natives"... The water is gross, and people KNOW that, but that's a different story...

People don't swim in Pheonix Lake, at least.