EDWARDSBURG — Many of the lakes in Cass County are interconnected through culverts and drainage ditches that allow water to flow into one side of the lake and out of another. This way, lake water levels can quickly return to a manageable level after a heavy rain.

However, Pleasant Lake in Edwardsburg has not drained well since the Michiana area experienced historic flooding in February. According to Steve Peterson, who owns Starboard Choice Marine on Pleasant Lake, the lake has been unable to drain due to a build-up of obstructive materials in the in two of the culverts and in drainage ditches.

“The main problem is the drain from Pleasant Lake over to the railroad,” Peterson said. “That whole drain is filled in with silt and some milfoil is in there. It hasn’t been dredged or anything else, and it hasn’t been maintained since, I believe, 1972.”

He also said that his understanding is the water level has been so high that roughly 30 to 40 percent of the properties on the lake have been attempting to mitigate water damage to their homes since the spring. Peterson is especially worried about the fact that the problem has gone on for so long and there does not seem to be a resolution in sight.

“Now you have homes that need furnaces, you have homes with foundation problems,” Peterson said. “There’s a lot of damage from this flood that still isn’t fixed and we’re going into fall. It concerns me.”

The water table rose roughly 1.25 inches from rain the fell during last weekend, but the lake only drains at a quarter inch in a 24-hour period Peterson said. This means it will take five days for the water level to get back to where was prior to the weekend.

“This summer I saw areas where I’ve never seen water. … Which is understandable because of the spring rains and the snow,” he said. “But those areas are all dried up now. Pleasant Lake should have dropped down to the normal ‘high level,’ at least, but at the rate that it’s going, you’re going to need three months without rain just to get back to the normal ‘high.’”

He and other residents said that the culverts that allow the water to flow out of the lake need to be cleared of obstructive material in order to solve the problem.

“We need to go in there with an excavator, clear trees and all the sediment out of the drain and open it up so the water can drain,” Peterson said.

After that, the culverts will need to be regularly maintained to prevent the problem from recurring.

“That is all done by the Cass County Drain Commissioner,” he said. “He has to approve that.”

In order to get the proper equipment to the areas that need to be cleared, there is part of a farmer’s cornfield that could be damaged. But Peterson and lake residents are prepared to help cover the cost of the farmer’s corn if it means getting the lakes draining issues taken care of.

“Pay for that corn to be damaged? Yeah! If someone’s going to pay for the dredge and the excavator,” he said. “But if this would’ve been maintained over the past 50 years then none of this would’ve happened.”