Early one morning at the end of the spring semester, and the University women’s rowing team was gaining speed as it moved across University Lake, when suddenly, A.J. Dominique III, accounting junior who was coaching the team that morning, said the boat stopped. The team hit a piece of piping lodged under the lake’s surface, and the boat quickly began to fill with water. The team evacuated the boat and carried it back to shore.
“It was gross,” Dominique said. “We had mud to our knees, and the people in front had to warn of rocks and stumps.”
After hearing a plan Thursday night from the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, Baton Rouge and University officials collectively endorsed a plan to study and repair the lakes but warned that any real change could take at least five years.
Students, faculty and residents from the surrounding lake area – including College Lake, Campus Lake, University Lake, City Park Lake and Erie Lake -met to express their concerns about the poor quality of the lakes.
“We have a great partnership – LSU, the city, the parish, BREC and Congressmen Baker’s office,” East Baton Rouge Mayor Kip Holden said to the audience.
With that alliance, Holden said he hopes to see an improvement in the lakes and the water quality. Recreational activities and safety are concerns that all parties are considering while planning future work on the lakes.
The funding for the initial study was part of legislation written by Congressman Baker. Michael DiResto, Baker’s press secretary, said Baker intends to find the funds to implement the study results.
Mark Wingate, senior project manager for the lakes with the Army Corps of Engineers, outlined what could be a five-year and multi-step process to remedy the lakes. Wingate said the meeting is part of a feasibility study that could last two years. The study will identify problems and potential solutions.
Wingate said when the study is complete, the Corps, along with members of the community, will be able to look at options for fixing the lakes.
One potential remedy, Wingate suggested, is dredging the lakes, which has not occurred since 1983.
Dredging requires removing the harmful silt and sediment – the knee-deep mud that the rowing team waded through – from the bottom of the water.
The project could also include stump removal and increasing the depth of the lakes.
William Jenkins, president of the LSU System, said he believes the lakes are a necessary part of the Baton Rouge community.
“The river, the capital, Tiger Stadium – say any of those and people have an image,” he said. “Say the lakes, and you immediately have an image of the city.”
Steve Pomarico, biology instructor, said he thinks the University can gain not only from having the lakes improved but also from participating in the process by testing the water during the study and continuing to follow up after construction is complete.
“This could become a living laboratory,” Pomarico said.
Caroline Day, rowing team coach, said the condition of the lakes are a problem for the small club sport team to grow or become competitive.
After the crash, which Day said put a hole 12 inches by 4 inches in the bottom of the boat, the team had to continuously replace expensive equipment due to damages incurred in the lakes.
“If we buy new equipment, we’re afraid to put it on the lakes,” she said, which keeps the team from being able to practice and compete on a larger scale.
Contact Ginger Gibson at [email protected]