Lake Conestee is a former mill-pond located on the Reedy River, six miles south of Greenville, South Carolina, in the center of the urban Greenville area. This water body, impounded by a historic stone masonry dam was formerly 130 acres in area. Today, the lake is nearly completely filled with sediment from a highly urbanized, 62-square-mile watershed with nearly 200 years of industrial history.

Historical and ongoing upstream sources of contaminants included extensive textile operations, coal gasification plants, metal works, tanneries, agrichemical formulation sites, and a WWII military base. In addition, the local municipality’s primary wastewater treatment plant, with a nearly 80-year history, is located two miles upstream. This Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW) presently has a discharge capacity of 29 million gallons daily.  The site is, by virtue of its location, the primary stormwater treatment and detention facility for the highly developed watershed upstream. ...

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