| Submission Bill Bradley letter to Peter Frood (Trent Severn Waterway) | |||||||||
April 2, 2008 Mr. Peter Frood RE: Water Level Management on Crystal Lake, Dear Mr. Frood; This letter is a follow-up to conversations that several members of our Lake Association have had with staff from your office and is in addition to the submission that has been made by our Association to the Trent Panel. We feel that it is necessary to highlight to you some disturbing events that have occurred over the past summer season. We also would like to provide some suggestions for improvement as we move forward into 2008 and beyond. For the most part, members of our Association have been satisfied with the operation of the dam and resulting water levels on Crystal Lake for the past 20 to 25 years, with the dramatic exception of 2007. Past practice on Crystal Lake has been to allow the lake to fill-up during the spring of the year and then incrementally remove logs (6" to 1' at a time) during the Trent operating season. Staff had been very competent at predicting low snow/moisture winters and at times responded by installing logs in the dam "early" in order to capture additional water to ensure that the lake "filled up" As you are aware, the winter of 2006/2007 was very dry with a limited amount of snow and a very thin ice/snow layer on the lakes. There was quite a wet period in later winter/early spring; however, the water produced during this period was completely missed, as the logs were not placed back in the dam until much later. The result was that Crystal Lake did not "fill up". This situation was predictable and could have been prevented by early log installation. Even though the lake did not fill, water level remained fairly consistent during June, July and early August. However, in late August 2.5 logs were removed from Crystal Lake at one time, resulting in a dramatic water reduction. This sudden drop in water levels resulted in grounding of docks and boats, exposing water lines and shoals almost overnight. This resulted in property damage as well as accidents on the lake that caused bodily harm. Conversations with Mr. Ness at your office have resulted in such statements as "we can take all the water we want" "that is what those lakes are there for" and rude remarks concerning the intelligence of the people making the inquiry. Residents were also told that we were being taken down to near winter levels in early September because vandals had inserted logs back in the dam and we were being "punished". As you can well imagine, our members are distraught at this type of treatment. The seasonal homes that people have built and passed on for generations mean more to them then their "city homes". The enjoyment of these properties centers around the lake and lake-based activities. Crystal lake supports a thriving seasonal community that deserves to be treated with respect and dignity as it relates to water level management and treatment by Parks Canada staff. It would appear that all of the lessons learned and the predictable water management techniques employed by Trent staff over the past 20 to 25 years have been abandoned and a new ad hoc, disrespectful, unpredictable approach as been adopted. As we move into an era of climate change, expectations will have to be altered and water preservation techniques will have to be employed. Users of the Trent should not expect to have predictable water levels at the expense of other lake users and logs may have to be placed into dams earlier in the winter to ensure that all required water is captured. There does not appear to be a logical reason to draw Crystal Lake down as far as it is in the fall. Leaving one additional log in the dam in the fall may result in the basin filling more readily in the spring. The fear of spring flooding is unjustified as there would still be plenty of room to handle the spring run-off. This is a large basin with plenty of headroom. At this time I am requesting a meeting with you so
that we can start a dialogue whereby the Crystal Lake Cottagers’
Association and Parks Canada can effectively deal with the challenges with
respect to changing water levels on Crystal Lake. Solutions can only be
achieved by a respectful dialogue between both Parks Canada and the Lake
Association. Once a meeting date has been set I expect that myself and one
or two other members from our Crystal Lake Environmental committee would
attend. We are more than happy to attend such a meeting at your location.
Yours truly, Bill Bradley,
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