What we can do to protect our lake:

Our lake watershed is 4 square miles, mostly surrounding the lake and to the North of it.   Any development in the watershed that disturbs the soil can cause runoff.  This puts silt in the water that enters our lake, causing it to fill in and become shallower over time.  (See Part 2 of this series)

 From the time the lake was first created to the present, it silts-in on a continuing basis.  Previous attempts at restoration were aimed at “fixing this forever, or at least for a very long time”.  Events in the watershed, such as housing developments and road building, make the soil more “impervious”.  That means there is less in the way of green stuff to use the moisture and slow the runoff.  When the water comes at us faster, it carries more soil and debris, and it carries it farther.  As more of our watershed gets developed, we get more silt from farther away.

Along with the silt, we get “nutrients”.  Nutrients are fertilizer, including excess chemical fertilizer from lawns, plus biological materials like pet-waste and sewer overflows, and toxic stuff like motor oil and other vehicle “droppings”.  Of this, anything that contributes to the differential growth of water weeds and algae can imperil the natural ecosystem in our lake. 

The lake itself is not natural, but a lot of what lives in and balances the ecosystem is.  We share some rare brown mussels with University Lake.  We have many varieties of indigenous fish that have been stocked preferentially to create a healthy balance.  We have at least one species of (sterile, expensive) exotic fish that has been stocked to keep algae and non-native waterweeds under control.   

How does this relate to swimming and water testing?  The fecal coliform we test for is a nutrient.  It comes from body waste, and that is a fertilizer.  If the ecosystem gets out of balance, we get an overgrowth of algae and weeds.  When the weeds run out of nutrients, they die, taking the oxygen out of the water.  Past a certain “recovery” point, this starts killing the fish.  Then the water becomes acidic and unfit for anything.  Eventually it becomes a swamp, then bog, then meadow. 

We get a mini-bloom of algae at least once every year.  For those that live near the tributaries “mini” may be a euphemism.  I am told that this cycle happens in almost all manmade NC lakes. We don’t really know where the “recovery” point is, I suspect it is variable and depends on weather.  What we need to do is take every reasonable step to slow eutrophication.

The sustainability that we built into our last restoration includes two major features:

1.      forebays to slow and trap silt before it reaches the main body of the lake, and

2.      standpipes that let us lower the lake to pre-determined levels in order to clean out the forebays and maintain the shoreline.

Will this work?   We don’t know for sure.  The plan is adjustable so we hope we can fix any weak elements. 

We cannot directly control what happens within our watershed, but outside our neighborhood.  We do need to make sure we are doing all we can within our neighborhood regarding erosion and nutrient runoff.  Beyond that, we need to make sure that any environmental regulations that contribute to the integrity of our watershed are vigorously enforced.  There are some fairly strict local regulations regarding erosion control during construction and road building.  Enforcement of these rules has been uneven, and both the NC Highway Department and the town are habitual offenders.

It is reasonable to expect our local government and public utilities like OWASA to protect and monitor the environment as form of enlightened public self-interest. 

OWASA has withdrawn their support of our water testing because our lake is not “public”. Providing us with access to resources does not benefit everyone they serve.  Environmentalists like to say “we all live downstream”.  I don’t think it is unreasonable or burdensome to consider all open bodies of water in OWASA’s service area part of their public responsibility, even if none of them are public.  After all, Cane Creek is not “public”, and access to University Lake is restricted.  All of the lakes and ponds in our community are upstream of communities that draw their water from anywhere below our wastewater outflow into Jordan Lake.

Whenever there is a sewer spill, we get a notice from OWASA.  If anyone sees the large white sewer pump truck in the neighborhood, please let me know.