Small Town News

Red Mill drainage alarms Edgewater residents

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Michael Zajic begins most mornings by feeding the mallard ducks of Red Mill pond. He lives in Edgewater Estates, a development on the fringes of Nassau, and his property abuts one of die pond's shallow fingers. On Feb. 19, he found die pond reduced to a shallow creek between two mudflats. "I thought, oh my god, the pond's going down," Zajic said Earlier tiiat day, workers from the Delaware Department of Transportation had removed the riser boards danuning the pond along a Route 1 dike. Water spilled freely under die highway, dropping the pond 27 inches by Zajic's measure.

Christian Hudson, speaking for his grandfather, Joe, who owns the pond, said the drawdown is an effort to relieve flooding along Hudson Road. Christian said several residents with submerged lawns had called Joe, suggesting Hudson said a partial drainage might let floodwaters seep from their yards.

"I don't know whether that's possible," Hudson said. Tm not a scientist We're just responding to their plight"

The drawdown is only temporary, Hudson stressed; it is no cause for alarm. The pond measures 8 to 10 feet at its deepest he said, and riser boards will be replaced in early March Water levels should be restored soon after.

"The way tiiis winter's going?" Hudson said. "I don't think it'll be but a montii or two."

Roy Miller is Zajic's neighbor in Edgewater. A recendy retired administrator of die state's division of fisheries, Miller hopes the drawdown has little ecological impact - but if water levels remain this low, it may be inevitable. "The longer the pond stays down, the more disruptive it will be," Miller said.

Charles Epifanio, professor of marine science at University of Delaware's College of Earth, Ocean and Environment, lived on Red Mill pond from 1981 to 1994 and remembers periodic drainings. He said die drawdown is unlikely to affect the pond's population of spring-spawning fish, including largemoudi bass, sunfish and crappies.

Cra'ig Shirey. fisheries administrator with the Division of Fish and Wildlife, said the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control isn't alarmed by die drawdown.

"We're operating under the position that ifs a private pond, and die owner has a right to manipulate levels as he sees fit"

Is the drawdown working? Hudson said he doesn't know - Hudson Road residents have yet to call and report Regardless of success or failure, he said, his family felt obligated to help if they could. Chris Hoenen, who lives on the corner of Hudson Road and Eagles Crest Road, said she appreciates die gesture, but it hasn't helped. If anything, the water on her property has only deepened.

"It's gotten worse, if you can believe it" she said. "If ifs helping anybody else, I can't tell." Hoenen said die floodwaters are almost spilling onto Hudson Road, forcing her to park her truck at the end of her driveway.

"I am seeking higher ground," said Hoenen, who now lives in Georgetown.

Zajic said he doesn't want to vilify Hudson - after all, he said, it's their pond. But Zajic said a flooded lawn is no reason to endanger an ecosystem.

"It's not fair to risk a habitat and a lot of wildlife," he said. "Its kind of a slap in die face." Hudson said his family drained die pond in 2003 widi little to no ecological consequence. "If we're honest with ourselves, ifs more about the view," he said. "It won't be a mudflat for more than two weeks. People would be a bit more understanding if their house was under water."





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