Salem Lake is a popular attraction for walkers, bikers and boaters. It’s just minutes from the city’s downtown. Right now, the lake isn’t high enough to open for activities, but Jack Fitzgerald, a civil engineer for the city of Winston-Salem says a couple more rain falls should help the lake open soon. He says the lake also accounts for about 20 percent of the city’s drinking water supply.

“Most of our water comes from the Yadin River. We have two different intakes along the Yadkin, so this is a secondary water source for Winston-Salem, in case the Yadkin was low or there were any other issues you could pull from Salem Lake. We can draw about 12 million gallons of water a day out of the lake, so having a secondary water source is priceless,” says Fitzgerald. 

The original dam at Salem Creek was built in 1919.

Five years ago, the State Department of Environment and Natural Resources identified a number of problems with dam at Salem Lake, including cracks that allowed water to seep through.

Shortly after, the City-County Utility Commission hired a contractor to replace the structure. Construction began in January 2011. Fitzgerald says the area around the lake also looks different.

“Where the new dam is now is where the old Greenway was. Before we started construction of the new dam we built about 2,000 feet of new paved greenway. One of the biggest improvements we made out there was the greenway bridge across Salem Creek. The existing crossing would flood even with a little bit of rain. Now this bridge is built out of this floodplain and spans the entire creek so it is less prone to flooding,” says Fitzgerald.

The entire project cost around $12 million.

A meditation area on the north side of the dam is also being constructed. Employees with the city’s Recreation and Parks Department will plant native hardwood trees in this area next spring. The Department says people can buy memory trees or benches to honor a loved one.