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Board approves work for Stoneridge Lake erosion problems

The Bartlett Board of Mayor and Aldermen has approved a $38,000 expenditure for engineering design and survey services to fix serious erosion problems at Stoneridge Lake.

The lake is located at Stoneridge Park on Altruria Road just south of the railroad tracks.

Shan Criswell, director of the Parks and Recreation Department, said the banks have been eroding and falling into the lake for several years. The banks are disappearing largely due to stormwater coming in after big rains.

As a result, the water level in the lake is getting very low, down to about a foot, causing “some serious oxygen problems in the lake,” she said.

“We need to do something about that,” Criswell told the aldermen, adding that Stoneridge is one of the most popular parks in the city.

She showed aerial slides comparing the lake before the problems in 2008 to how erosion had changed the look and color of the lake by 2018. The erosion just keeps getting worse.

Another slide showed an inlet at the lake people could stand on in 2016 has completely eroded today.

The park is located below higher ground north to Memphis-Arlington Road and east of Altruria, Rick McClanahan, director of the city engineering department, explained, thus rainwater tends to flow toward the lake, which serves as a retention pond as well as an amenity.

He said maintenance like this can be expected at similar retention ponds over time.

The original lake was six feet deep.

The plan would call for stabilizing the bank and then dredging out the eroded soil to get the lake bed back to its original depth. That work, if approved later, is estimated to cost about $400,000.

Doing that will restore the ecosystem of plants and provide oxygen in the lake fish need to survive, Criswell said.

The board unanimously approved on March 22 hiring Allen & Hoshall to do the survey and engineering design work.

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