HILLSBORO — Jefferson County leaders voted Monday night to temporarily block access to a popular Big River swimming hole beset by drownings and close calls ever since work at the site altered the water’s flow and helped form a dangerous whirlpool.
The 6-1 County Council vote will prohibit entry into the river from Rockford Park, where a swift current squeezes between rocky bluffs and the remnants of an old dam, at least until April.
In 2016, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers piled tons of rocks at the site — stabilizing the crumbling dam as a temporary fix, but also helping to form a bottleneck in the river, with strong eddies that can, and have, pulled swimmers under.
The council’s move was also accompanied by a unanimous vote to seek funding for new federal projects focused on the Big River.
“I appreciate this (ban) and I appreciate the fact that we are gonna be working with state, federal and county officials to see what kind of outcomes we can find to make the Big River safer, and improve the overall accessibility and usability of the river,†said County Executive Dennis Gannon at the Monday meeting.
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The actions follow a Post-Dispatch investigation that showed how the Corps’ work has helped transform the waterway into one of Missouri’s deadliest, and detailed the toll the river has taken at Rockford Park — with six drownings in the nine years since the work was done.
Deaths have been on the rise since the Army Corps of Engineers piled 4,700 tons of rock onto an old dam that crossed the river in Jefferson County.
Council members at Monday’s meeting described how the spot is not just a danger to the public, but also to the first responders who get called in to attempt dangerous water rescues at the location.
The bill’s initial version would have banned access to swimming and wading from the park, indefinitely. But Councilman Bob Tullock pushed for an amendment that would only keep the measure in effect until April, at which point he said the council can revisit it.
The council adopted the amendment, although some members said the change felt like more of a “baby step†toward a solution, especially since the ban would end during the busy and most crucial summer months.
A warning sign is posted along the Big River in Rockford Park, but the area remains a popular swimming spot.
“It does seem odd,†said Councilman Billy Crow Jr. “(But) whatever it takes to get it across the line and get it started.â€
Tullock, though, said he wants to “review this every year†before the swimming season, until some sort of fix is achieved.
“If it’s still a problem, we should continue it to the next year,†he said. “This is a balance issue for me. We have to weigh the right not to swim versus the risk.â€
Councilman Brian Haskins said he was “extremely happy†to have the measure pass — even if he would also like to see access restricted on a more permanent basis, until a solution makes the water safer.
He said a similar measure failed by a single vote last year, only to see the death toll rise in the time since.
“It was pretty gut-wrenching,†he said, adding that the site has recorded 29 water rescues over the last decade.
Some worry that the county’s move might not be enough, noting that people can still access that point of the river if they come from places other than Rockford Park.
“That’s the problem,†said Alan Leaderbrand, a Fenton resident who attended the meeting. “They’re trying to do the best they can under the limitations.â€
The Corps’ 2016 work to pile 4,700 tons of rock at the site was undertaken after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency determined that the dam had to be saved in order to protect downstream mussels from lead-contaminated sediment. Lead contamination issues are prevalent along the Big River, which cuts through parts of Missouri’s historic Lead Belt mining region.
