Week of July 25, 2021

WATERWORK. Keuka Lake stretches north to south with steep slopes on its shores. Our Lakehouse on Keuka Bluff is no exception, resulting in a need to control erosion after the thaw of the winter snow and spring thunderstorms. The large gully leading to the lake had been controlled by diverting run-off into a large pipe buried under the road and exiting as a waterfall on the beach. An unresolved problem has been the drainage from the five acres lying uphill. Over the past ten years, the seasonal stream next to the Lakehouse had several times turned into a raging torrent, washing leaves, sticks, and logs down to plug up the culvert pipe leading to the lake, overflowing its banks, and washing out our driveway. Last summer, this stranded us above the washout. We met with the Soil and Water Conservation people and devised a plan to allow the water to run-off without clogging the pipes. Our bulldozer expert obtained 6 foot long by two foot wide by three foot deep cement barriers which he could stack to create a box over which a metal grate could hold up the debris, letting the water to enter the pipe opening on one end of the box. This was constructed last fall and last May resulted in a huge pile of leaves and debris (approximately 6 feet wide, 4 feet high, and 3 feet deep) on the grate with water flowing around it and down the pipe to Keuka Lake. It looks like a successful experiment!