Contaminated silt found at 'leaking' Coronation Lake (From Falmouth Packet)

Contaminated silt found at 'leaking' Coronation Lake

7:00am Monday 4th March 2013 in News

The results of a survey carried out on Helston’s Coronation Lake are back and “make for some very interesting reading.”

Councillor Andy Wallis told Helston Town Council he had received a draft report on the survey and the lake was “definitely leaking.”

In some places more than 1.4 metres of silt had built up.

“The sad part, if we were to drain it and dredge it, is that we couldn’t put the silt on farmland – there’s mineral contamination,” said Mr Wallis.

“It would have to be industrially disposed, which brings the price up.”

He added that ballpark figures for the cost of draining the lake and dealing with the silt were “estimated as quite excessive.”

Mr Wallis said he was now looking for funding so that the work could be carried out and promised the council the full report when it was published.

The history of why the survey was carried out can be found online at thepacket.co.uk Councillor Ronnie Williams asked whether the survey mentioned reinstating the water supply that used to flow in from the eastern corner but got diverted when Lidl was built nearby.

“That used to keep the lake completely flushed,” he said.

Mr Wallis replied that there was an “extensive” part on water flow and agreed it was something that needed to be addressed.

The survey also talked about when pumpage was changed in the 1900s and even the different types of minerals in the mud.