Old Mill Pond in Granite Falls now completely drained

GRANITE FALLS, NC (June 30, 2017)…To the surprise of most everyone in the Granite Falls area the Old Mill Pond was completely drained on Thursday, June 29th.

Now to the reason the pond was drained…we were informed that an engineering firm that is contracted with the NCDOT for the Falls Avenue Bridge Project requested that the water level be lowered. We were hoping to provide you with the specific reason for the water level change and how long it will be in place but we were unable to contact the engineering firm by the time of this release (will try to obtain this information as soon as possible).  We were informed by the NCDOT that “The draining is part of an already accelerated bridge replacement project.”

NC Wildlife Resource Commission District 8 Fishery Biologist Chris Wood told us that they have been aware of the bridge project and its possible impact. They already have plans to re-stock the pond with a variety of fish species at the appropriate time. Wood also told us that they are working to secure property for public access to the pond and are motivated to make the pond a good fishing resource.

If we receive any corrected, new and/or updated information we will be sure to pass it along.

There has already been some preliminary discussion of a pond clean-up event.

While doing some research, we came across another name for this body of water…”Gunpowder Creek Lake.” So, is it a pond or a lake?