However, as booming construction and upstream development replace farms and forests that once straddled White Rock Creek, more sediment flows into the lake. Nine tributaries feed into White Rock Lake, and much of the lake’s sediment is from the natural erosion of those streams, Stauffer says. Over nine months, a dredging pump inhaled a mixture of water and silt from the bottom of the lake and sent it through 24-inch pipes to the pit. A fortuitous connection reduced the cost of the project when a landowner in Hutchins needed his gravel pit filled. The dredge cost $18 million, half of which came from bond funds. It was completed in 1998 after a study found that silt affected oxygen levels in the summer, threatening the fish population. The final dredge removed 3 million cubic yards of sediment. In 1955, more than 15,000 cubic yards of sediment were removed, followed by 1.35 million cubic yards during the third dredging. When silt removal began in 1937, 588,000 cubic yards of sediment were removed, and 90 acres of land were reclaimed during the three-and-a-half-year project.
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