Maple Lake Water Levels Hit Historic Low

Despite healthy downpours of rain, water levels across the county continue to be a matter of grave concern, not only for waterfront residents in the area trying to enjoy their lakes, but for tourism operators, marinas and people who hope to make additional revenue through cottage rentals. Over the past few weeks, articles have started to surface in southern city dailies raising concerns that signifi cantly reduced water levels could even create problems for hydroelectric power generators this summer. For some weeks now, the County Voice has been hearing concerns about the drastically reduced water levels in Maple Lake and one resident has fi nally decided to speak out about it. Don Wetmore, who has owned his lakefront home on the North Shore Road in Stanhope for the past nine years says, “The water levels have been a disaster this year.” Wetmore attributes the water levels to poor management by the Trent-Severn Waterway staff. “As far as I’m concerned the TSW are not monitoring the lake levels the way they should be. This is the worst they have ever been and it’s not getting any better. In fact, as far as I’m concerned it’s getting worse.” According to Wetmore, the TSW has made mistakes in the past, but the problem seems to be that those mistakes aren’t correcting themselves. “We’re getting greater extremes every year.” It’s not only Maple Lake that is experiencing problems in the area. Wetmore said, “We’re talking about four lakes here; Green Lake, Pine Lake and Cranberry Lake are also having problems. While Maple Lake is the biggest of that chain, this is affecting everyone on the chain of lakes and we’re all starting to get pretty annoyed and upset.” Strangely enough however, neighbouring Beech Lake is not encountering the same degree of diffi culty. Beech Lake is down seven inches from last year’s level at this time and was down 34 inches from last year’s spring peak and according to Maple, Beech and Cameron Lakes Area Property Owners’ Association President Paul MacInnes, Beech Lake has fallen an additional six inches over the past two weeks. way of explanation of the difference in levels between adjoining Beech and Maple Lakes, Wetmore said, “There isn’t a big drop between Beech Lake and Boshkung, so when Boshkung is full, the levels tend to rise on Beech Lake as well. Otherwise they would be in the same predicament.” Wetmore moved to Maple Lake in 2001 and he says that this is the worst year ever. “Even folks who have been here for 25 years or more say that the water levels are the worst they can remember.” According to Wetmore, originally there was a dam on the lake, but as far as local historians can determine the dam was taken out in or around 1950. “If that dam was replaced it would certainly alleviate the problems being encountered on our chain of lakes now.” “We’re at the mercy of what happens with the water from Eagle and Redstone Lakes. When all of the logs are in on their dams we get no water and that is the reason that we are in this situation this spring. The lakes were lowered too much, logs were put in and we aren’t getting any water.” Over the weekend Wetmore acknowledged that the water had risen a tiny bit as a result of recent rainfalls and the fact that one log had been removed from Eagle Lake last Friday. But even with the additional water it is still impossible for him to put his boat in the water, at least in front of his home. The last floating section of his dock is on dry land and won’t budge. “I can’t complete my dock and the water certainly isn’t deep enough for our boat.” Wetmore said the Maple Lake shoreline is very shallow and if the water goes up a foot it makes a huge difference. “But right now I think we are around three feet lower than the norm.” Because Maple Lake is one of the flow-through lakes with no dams, the water levels aren’t monitored or available for viewing on the Parks Canada website. Wetmore said, “There are no dams and we are completely at the mercy of the upper lakes.” Overall, Wetmore said that it was a frustrating situation. “What makes us particularly annoyed,” he said, “is that we’re paying big taxes for so called waterfront property, but when we want to enjoy the water, we don’t have the use of it. There’s nothing out front but a big mud flat.” He also said that it would be of even greater concern for people who have their homes or cottages for sale, or owners who want to rent their cottages out for part of the year. “Certainly property values will go down, making sales even more difficult.” “I’m not looking at this solely from a personal perspective,” he said. “This means a lot to people who have a business on the lake and there is little question that business is being lost.” Of even greater concern is navigation on the lakes. Wetmore said, “It’s not only the use of our lakes that we’re concerned about; from a navigational perspective it is very dangerous. In all of our lakes there are rocks that are usually submerged but with low levels the rocks are surfacing and becoming navigational hazards.” Wetmore suggested that TSW staff fail to have sufficient appreciation for the extent of the concerns that people living on reservoir and flow-through lakes in the area have. “When they drop the levels of our lakes up here there is a tremendous effect.” Wetmore said it would be a lot easier to understand and accept if all of the lakes were experiencing the same low levels. “But if you drive around and look at Head Lake, Boshkung, Halls or Kashagawigamog Lakes, all of them are at reasonable levels and not at the extent that we have suffered this spring.” At the present time Twelve Mile, Mountain and Boshkung Lakes all appear to be have relatively normal levels, but most of the other lakes are very low compared to prior years. Wetmore was adamant in his argument that the lakes aren’t monitored sufficiently by TSW personnel. “The local guys for TSW in Haliburton used to regulate the dams on an ongoing basis, but once control was taken over and operations centered in Peterborough, they have not been monitoring as they should be or we would have a much more moderate flow. I understand that there will always be wet and dry seasons, but it shouldn’t entail what we are going through if the lakes were managed properly.” Confessing to having been a bit vocal about the water levels, Wetmore again said there was no need for the problems that residents were encountering if things were managed properly by the TSW. “I’m sure that is where the problem lies. They should look at their criteria for monitoring, at the software that they are using and somehow monitor the situation more closely.” Wetmore also questioned the timing and accuracy of the water levels posted on the Parks Canada website. “You would think it was monitored daily, but in reality when you look at the levels over several weeks there seems to be no difference.” Would a dam improve the situation for Maple Lake? Wetmore and others living in the area think it just might. “From our perspective a dam would certainly improve the extremes we go through.” While he had no idea of the cost of a damn, Wetmore suggested that if the federal government could spend a billion dollars on a two day summit, they should be able to find the money to respond to problems like this. “But it all gets lost in the bureaucratic shuffle,” he said, adding that the problem with the waterways was that so many levels of government and so many different departments are involved that it becomes almost impossible to get anything done when a problem like this arises. Meanwhile, the Advisory Committee for the Coalition for Equitable Water Flow had a formal meeting scheduled with Parks Canada/TSW senior management this week. They will be presenting this and other concerns about water levels and trying to determine exactly what plans are in place to rectify the situation both for the present and the future. Wetmore voiced considerable appreciation for the work of the CEWF and the time and consideration given to local concerns. “We get a much better response from the CEWF than we do from the TSW. Their work gives us hope that there will be improvements over time. As to the recent rainfall, Wetmore says he’s glad to see it, but added that it would take a good two to three weeks of steady rain to see any real difference. “These lakes don’t fill up overnight, so we’ll be lucky to get our boat in at all this year.” The MBC executive is very concerned about this issue. MacInnes said, “We’re doing our best to support the efforts of the CEWF to get this problem fixed.”