Wednesday, February 26, 2003

I have recently been reading in the local papers, about the upcoming dredging of Lake Peachtree and the possibility of emptying the lake to accomplish this project. I also understand that it is a job that can be done without emptying the lake.

My question to the Fayette County Water Commission is What about the wildlife that live in and around the lake who depend on its resources? We have numerous ducks, geese, turtles, fish and several great blue herons, along with other varieties of wildlife, that live and feed there. Please, please, please consider the consequences for these animals if you drain the lake. It would be devastating to their very existence!

There are many of us in the community who enjoy seeing the wildlife in the area. In fact a few of us were involved not long ago in the rescue of a great blue heron who was tangled in kite wire up in the trees. After vet care, a two-week stay at Second Chance Wildlife Center for rehab and exercise in their flight pen, he was released back to Lake Peachtree, close to where we found him. He still happily resides there today. It's his habitat and home, as well as an important food source. It's also home and habitat to many of our wildlife friends. Why destroy it when there is an alternative way to dredge the lake?

And one also has to ask, What about all that water? How can you even think about wasting it after a five-year drought? We all know (except maybe the Fayette County Water Commission) that water is a very precious resource. To drain the lake would be such a grave mistake.

Please, please, please, Fayette County Water Commission, as a taxpayer and citizen of Peachtree City for 13 years, I implore you to pay the extra money that will enable the job to be done without emptying our lake. From what I understand there is more than enough of our tax dollars set aside to cover this project.

It is ecologically, environmentally and ethically, the only way to do it!

Jacque Solsvig

Peachtree City