A ribbon cutting for the Shadle Park Pond Improvement Project was held in Pleasantville on Friday.

Many dignitaries were in attendance at the ribbon cutting to celebrate this project, which aims to  enhance water quality, flood control, and  recreational fishing. Over 9,000 cubic yards of sediment was excavated and removed from the pond as part of this $428,000 project. Previously, the outflows discharged through a series of CMP pipes, providing little control for various storm events. Many different departments and agencies at the local and state level came together to make this project possible. Pleasantville Mayor Kody Jurgens says he is thankful for the partnerships who helped make this project come together.

“The fact of the matter is we wouldn’t have been able to afford it if we didn’t have these partnerships and being able to do the things we wanted to do. There is no physically possible way, our budget doesn’t allow for it to happen. The fact that we can get partnership with the state and local government and get tax dollars and be able to use those and having the benefit of where we’re at, we were able to pull together a great project and I think it is going to have a generational impact.”

Deputy Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Grant Menke was in attendance and spoke at the ceremony about his department wanting to continue making these urban water quality improvement projects a priority throughout the state.

“It shows that it’s not just the big cities that are capable of doing this and I’m hopeful that we will continue to see more counties and more small towns be a part of this momentum that we’ve got in urban water quality and all of the water quality progress we’re making throughout the State of Iowa.”

This is the first Iowa Department of Agriculture urban water quality improvement project in Marion County. The DNR spoke at the event and said the pond is stocked with largemouth bass, bluegill, and channel catfish.