Hannah Varix, Glen Rose Reporter
GLEN ROSE — The Somervell County Water District paid to deliver 1,000 trout to Town Lake on Wednesday. Town Lake is part of the Palaxy River near Big Rocks Park.
Delivery is the second phase of the replenishment, the first of which will take place on November 29th, also at Town Lake.
SCWD general manager Kevin Taylor explains that the replenishment coincides with the cleanup of the Palaxy River.
“Usually we[restock]1,000 fish the first week of December and 1,000 fish the first week of January,” says Taylor. “This is a voluntary way of compensating when we clean the river every few years.”
In 2008, cleanup of the river began after SCWD built a concrete dam on the Palaxy River and pumped the water into the reservoir to store it.
Every few years silt and debris fill the man-made pump pools, threatening the pump’s ability to distribute water to the reservoir. Waste is removed by draining the river and removing the soft bottom.
Removing debris cleans the environment and gives the fish more space to breathe as it moves into its new home.