The number of recreational users of the lake and the types of uses also affect water quality. Is it a problem? What should we be doing about it?
Questions we are looking into:
- seasonality - high and low season use
- direct pollution from boats - 4 stroke, 2 stroke
- sediment and boats - how to limit speeds in very shallow areas so sediment does not ruin drinking water quality (assuming it is a problem)
- bank erosion - is it a problem? if so, how to reduce?
- carrying capacity - how much usage can the lake tolerate?
Fast and Loud Boats
While most of the boats on the lake are driven with care and attention there are a few boats that appear now and then that are either travelling too fast, making too much noise, or both. How can we control speed and noise?
Noise comes in two forms - boats with noisy engines and boats with loud music. While there are few lakes boats with noisy engines, now and then we get a visitor with a very loud engine. Often the boat is unmuffled - a boat designed to be very noisy. These boats are also often designed to be fast and often speed.
Is there a problem that we need to address? Do we have these fast loud boats often enough to take action? Send us your views.
Wake Boats
Wake boats are a recent arrival on the lake - in the past 4 or 5 years. While not fast and not necessarily loud (although loud music seems to be a large part of the wake boat experience), wake boats have effects greater than their numbers would suggest.
Wake boats are certainly much harder on docks than any other recreational boat. Many docks will require new mooring mechanisms or more frequent mooring maintenance. Many docks are impossible to use when wake boats are in the area - the wakes move the docks around far too much for comfort.
Wake boats are much harder on the shoreline than regular water ski boats. Higher erosion rates and more disturbed sediment affect water quality (tubidity) negatively.
Do we need controls on wake boats? Send us your views.
