Friday, January 02, 2009
You have a stake in the lake, too
From the RoundTable blog
Read the latest entries
Tom and Ellen Buck
The Bucks are retired naval officers. They own Mitchell's Point Marina and live at Smith Mountain Lake.
We have owned and operated Mitchell's Point Marina and Campground on Smith Mountain Lake for the past five years. We have read the recent letters to the editor concerning lake levels and would like to apologize for the frivolous and nonsensical drivel you have been asked to swallow. This issue is, in fact, a serious matter that deserves a more sincere examination.
The previous letters left you with the sense that a few fat cats living in lakeside mansions were whining about their petty inconveniences. Please allow us to explain why this issue may have more serious implications for those who may never even see or enjoy the lake.
We own and operate a 123-slip marina, 83-site campground, restaurant, gas dock, boat rental business and three boat ramps. Mitchell's Point Marina has 2,000 to 3,000 people using our facility on a typical summer Saturday or Sunday. These folks come from all over the state and tend to be middle-class, everyday people fishing, boating, swimming and just trying to enjoy their limited access to the lake.
Unfortunately, in periods of extended drought such as often occur in late summer, they cannot use the lake. Once the lake level goes below 792 feet elevation (3 feet low), about half of our slip tenants cannot get their boats out, the ramps become inaccessible because the concrete ends and their trailers get stuck in mud, and the beach is receded to the mud line and not really accessible.
That equates to about 1,000 people a day unable to access the lake from our marina alone. Multiply that by the other 20 marinas and the thousands of homeowner docks of the lake and you will see that the low lake level denies access to 10,000 to 20,000 people each day. The economic impact is huge, and the disappointment to people from all over the state is impossible to measure.
As it stands now and under the new proposed protocol, the downstream discharge from the lake is mandated to remain at 450 to 650 cubic feet per second to protect downstream recreational kayaking and whitewater rafting. It appears that the downstream guys were better connected politically in the early days before the lake was formed and there was no one up here on Smith Mountain Lake.
We are living with a biased and unfair system that protects a few hundred kayakers, rafters and fishermen at the expense of thousands of users of Smith Mountain Lake who are denied access by this protocol. The prevailing drought situation has meant that the lake has been down to 790 feet (5 feet low) for the majority of July through December every year for the last few years.
During this period, the inflow into the watershed is about 200 cubic feet per second while the outflow remains at 500 to 600 cubic feet per second. That means we are losing 300 to 400 cubic feet every second this illogical protocol remains in effect.
We need a protocol that balances the pain. We realize there is nothing we can do about Mother Nature, but it is hard to find logic in a system that guarantees a relative handful of downstream folks rushing water for rafting at the rate of 300 cubic feet per second more than nature can provide, while leaving thousands more users sitting high and dry on Smith Mountain Lake. Once the level of Smith Mountain Lake drops to 792 feet, the outflow should match the inflow. Then we will all suffer at the same rate and prosper together when the water levels return.
While this problem directly affects our livelihood, it affects all of you indirectly even if you never intend to use the lake.
Roanoke has spent millions of your dollars to create things that enhance the beauty and livability of the area -- the new Taubman Museum of Art, Mill Mountain Park, the new greenway along the river, to name just a few.
How many times have we used a reference to the proximity of Smith Mountain Lake to recruit people to come to this area? Besides the direct increase to tax revenues and tourist dollars, there is the indirect benefit of having this beautiful natural resource so nearby.
The access being denied affects many times more average Joes than the handful of fat cats who own expensive lakefront houses. It affects all of us.
