I’ve been watching a discussion on the Dallas subreddit that poses the following question: “What would it take to make White Rock Lake swimmable and a true recreation hotspot?” The poster asked everyone to set aside the usual “impossible” hurdles like bureaucratic red tape, and consider what “would it actually take (in terms of money, time, technology, and resources) to get WRL clean enough where people would want to swim, paddleboard, and really recreate in it?”
Of course, many people pointed out the need for dredging (and nobody’s sure how much that will cost) as well as the fact that Plano occasionally accidentally dumps raw sewage into a stream that feeds directly into the lake. Others pointed out that the lake “was never meant to be recreational,” but was meant to be a reservoir for the watershed, which prompted several more to point out all the recreational stuff (including rowing) that happens in the lake. (Tim also explored the reasons why you can’t/shouldn’t swim in the lake in 2021 and 2003.)…