September 15, 2006
Point Clark Beach Association
RR1 Kincardine, Ontario N2Z 2X3
Att: Don Thorpe, President
Re: PCBA Petition For Action
As discussed with you and Dave Hyman I also want to see immediate improvement of lake water quality & beach conditions but have not signed the petition because, like most long term owners of lakefront properties south of the lighthouse, I am more concerned with very expensive erosion control measures necessary during higher lake levels (at the cost of these lakefront lots only) than I am concerned with optional “cosmetic” measures during the current temporary near record low lake level.
If the current near record low lake level is not temporary, and the Great Lakes are near ecological breakdown as reported in a Reuters article (8 DEC 05), then we could be facing a marshy wetlands in front of our current shoreline since there are four billion Chinese & Indians adding pressure to warming from greenhouse gases and higher temperatures increase evaporation (note 2005 was warmest summer since 1940).
A 40-odd year cycle occurs in lake with average water levels approximately one metre above the current level. The attached chart of Lake Huron-Michigan’s annual water levels between 1918 and 2006 shows that the lake level can rebound from a near record low level to a near record high level (two metres difference) in less than four years (see 1926 to 1930) and complete the cycle to a near record low level in three more years (by 1933). I believe that nature will probably soon correct the current stagnation in the short term without any action or expenditure by us.
Shallow water, green slime and thick marshes is covered in a comprehensive article “Troubles grow as lake levels fall” by Tina Lam in the Detroit Free Press on August 27, 2006 (http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060827/NEWS). Apparently B.M.Ross photographed for the Township the stagnating “sludge” along the lake’s dynamic waterline the first week of September. The surface width of the stagnation can vary by as much as 100% in as little as an hour, so the volume of the polluted “sludge” can not be determined by photographs alone. This “sludge” is trapped at low lake levels either naturally in coves between promontories (points), or artificially in areas between “jetties” (groynes, moles) if they extend onto the beach. The spacing of artificial “jetties” should be three times their length. Some artificial “jetties” were formed during record low lake levels in the 1960s for safety between swimming & boating areas, for trapping sand, and for reducing shoreline erosion during high lake levels. Most (if not all) of these artificial “jetties” do not extend onto the beach and probably do not contribute significantly to the current amount of “sludge”. Removing artificial “jetties” or opening up a “water passage” along the shore would just pass the “sludge” along in the natural coves and is a wasted expense because rising lake levels will naturally eliminate both the “sludge” (by aeration) and the reeds (by erosion).
“Methods of control of the common reed”, an article available at (http://www.pserie.psu.edu/seagrant/publications/fs/Phragmites.pdf#search=%22Phragmites%20removal%22), states that fossil records indicate Phragmites reeds have been present for more than 3000 years in North America. We have owned our lot north of the mouth of Walpole Creek since 1947 without seeing Phragmites reeds in the lake, even during record low levels in 1964. Phragmites reeds now occupy the area where the beach, dunes and remainder of the Original Shore Road Allowance were repeatedly bulldozed into the creek as summarized in my August 2, 1995 letter to the Township of Huron (copy to Geoff Peach @ SVCA). Two photos of this part of shoreline are in the PCBA 60th anniversary calendar; note the wide curving beach & dunes with poplars behind Gordon in 1971 (January 2007) and dunes & bushes behind MacNay family in 1947 (July 2007).
In the long-term, I prefer to leave environmental predictions to the educated experts. Geoff Peach of the Lake Huron Centre for Coastal Conservation plausibly summarizes speculations on causes of accelerated algae growth and massive die-off of round goby in Darrell Zeigler’s article in the Kincardine Independent on June 28, 2006. The Ontario Farm Environmental Coalition supports source water protection, but want the Clean Water Act withdrawn and redrafted (Better Pork, June 2006). Perhaps the Great Lakes are “rapidly approaching ecological breakdown” as reported in a Reuters article (8 DEC 05) and we will have marshy wetlands along our shoreline.
In the short term, I believe that nature will probably soon correct the current lake stagnation and reeds without any action or expenditure by us, but I will support practical measures during low lake levels provided:
· The measures do not result in more erosion during storms or higher lake levels;
· An equal amount of erosion control expense and effort is expended at high levels;
· The lake environment is not jeopardized by chemicals, equipment, disposals, etc;
· Native species (plants, birds and fish) are not dispossessed (they were here first!).
Stagnation in the creek bed, a different problem, has been man-made (as outlined in my August 2, 1995 letter to the Township), the result of the significant relocation of the creek mouth northwards (on several occasions), plugging the mouth at the shoreline, resulting in serious stagnation which continues to the present (probably forever unless the creek’s natural course is reinstated. I do not believe this creek stagnation is caused by septic systems. Apparently several known faulty septic systems need immediate attention; costly mandatory inspections for the rest of us will not improve this creek problem. It may be just a matter of time until the whole developed area is polluted because it is essentially a shallow swamp above the lakebed. Suggestions were made at previous PCBA meetings that the Township establish a reserve fund for a sewage treatment plant and install sewer lines before paving and curbs, but it appears all of us will need to upgrade our current systems before any inevitable sewage collection system occurs.
Sincerely,
Don MacNay
RR1 Kincardine, Ontario N2Z 2X3
c.c.: Dave Hyman
Geoff Peach (Lake Huron Centre for Coastal Conservation)
B.M. Ross & Associates
Follow up correspondence
Images of the Point Clark Shoreline in early November 2006