They want our water when drought occurs, but when we need the water to support our community we get a cold shoulder
Nothing I enjoy more is to take my small boat on the lake and watch the world go by
Drowned a few worms and pretend I'm fishing
The lakes shores are covered in a sea of blue shrink wrap
The docks are empty
The bait store and marina's are without their daily customers
The speed boat races were canceled
So were some fishing contests?
The annual parade of antique wooden boats might be shelved till next season
The seaweed is growing at a rapid rate
Which means your boat prop. Will get caught and you might get stuck
Some of the beaches can't be used
The fourth of July is a big day
The best place to watch the fireworks is on the lake
Sitting in a boat, have a cold beer and a sandwich
Listening to the bands play
Jumping overboard to cool off
On a clear night the stars are so close you can reach out and touch them
Very pretty and romantic
The area is so packed you can walk from shore to shore just by going boat to boat
The town has a barge they set the firework
That might be canceled as well
Water to shallow
Navigating at night is easy when the lake is at normal height
When it this low you will damage your boat
They don't know how may million of dollars in revenue will be lost
The merchants are going to have a tough time paying taxes
Mortgages
Teens have no summer jobs
The economy is bad enough
The boat sale is at an all time low
The Soprano State we live in
Another little joy in my life taken away
Woes of Lake Hopatcong hit community
Posted by Mark DiIonno/The Star-Ledger June 13, 2009 6:48AM
Categories: Real-Time News
There are no waves from boats slapping up against the rock walls on Halsey Island. The big boats aren't out to make waves, and there is barely enough water in Lake Hopatcong to reach the island shores.
"I have never seen it this low this late in the season," said Jean Paulson. "My biggest concern, is that if the summer gets very hot, it will go down even lower."
Jerry McCrea/The Star-LedgerJean Paulson, who has lived on Raccoon Island at Lake Hopatcong for over 40 years, is distressed at how she is unable to get out of her boat unaided, because the water levels are so low. The water level normally rises up to the top step.
Jean Paulson's opinion is steeped in personal history. She is 83 years old. Her grandfather built the first house between Landing and the dam in the 1890s. She spent every summer there as a girl, from birth on. She and her late husband bought their house on Halsey Island more than 40 years ago. She was once president of the Lake Hopatcong Historical Society. He was commodore of the Lake Hopatcong Yacht Club.
"I've seen the ups and downs on this lake," she said, with a smile of understatement.
After days of either steady rain or heavy downpours from thunderstorms, the lake level is creeping up. All that rain has added a few inches in some spots, but there are still more boats under tarps on land than there are in the water.
It takes 66 million gallons of water to raise New Jersey's largest lake an inch. The lake was 2 feet below normal. That means 1.584 billion gallons of water must fall on the lake before it reaches normal heights this year. That's Noah kind of rain.
Funny, but the marina owners and residents say that's precisely the number of gallons the state Department of Environmental Protection let slip through the dam over the winter. That mistake, they say, turned last year's 5-foot draw- down, which occurs every five years for dock and shoreline repairs, into a 7-foot drawdown from which the lake has not recovered. Their lawsuit, asking the state to stop taking between 4 and 5 million gallons a day from the lake to feed Musconetcong lake and river is still pending. And the days of the summer season are ticking by.
For owners of homes on Halsey and Raccoon islands, this is no small thing. This isn't about being deprived of a weekend splash in a powerboat. This is about not being able to get to their summer homes, for which they pay local property taxes. It means not having running water. And not having fire protection, because fireboats can't get close to shore.
Lynne Scanlon, another Halsey resident, says this is her biggest fear. She owns a home, like many on Halsey, built in the early 1900s.
"A tinderbox," she said. She bought her own fire hoses and pumps a few years ago during a severe drought, the last time fireboats where grounded at the lake. "But now the lake is so low, I'm worried about drawing enough water if there is a fire."
The island residents use lake water to shower and wash dishes and water plants. Drinking water comes from public wells. Scanlon said some residents have not been able to get water, because their intake hoses don't extend far enough into the lake. Others can't even get pontoon boats to their docks.
"After all this rain, if the lake was at its normal level, we would have water over the walls, up into our yards," Scanlon said. "Sometimes after a wet spring, there would be no-wake zones close to shore."
Boat owners, in those times, would have to throttle down, so waves from wakes wouldn't damage docks and boat houses or erode rock walls.
"Usually after heavy rains like this, the lake comes up, but that hasn't happened this year," Paulson said.
Asked the inevitable question, Paulson said she's seen the lake this low only once before, when it was drained so the state could repair the bottom of the dam, which is at the state park end.
"But not this late in the season," she said. "And if the summer turns very hot, we'll lose even more water through evaporation."
Paulson said she is not complaining. To complain would betray the decades of pleasure the lake has given her, and generations of her family. Some of her six children, and their children, still fill the house on Halsey Island. Two of her daughters were married there. The lake has been a cornerstone of family history. Besides, she's not the complaining type.
"It's inconvenient, let's just say that," she said. "It's hard getting in and out of the boat, with groceries, and supplies. I wanted to bring some furniture over, but I haven't been able to do that."
Paulson says she knows every inch of it the lake. Earlier this week, in heavy fog and misty rain, she climbed aboard her pontoon boat, and piloted it out to Halsey.
"I love the fog,' she said. "It's beautiful. The foggier the better for me. It makes everything so peaceful."
But the water level makes the climb from boat deck to shore deck almost impossible. Where she could once step from boat to dock with one step, she now must climb a swimming ladder. Worse, earlier this year, while her daughter was driving the boat, they hit a small rock, which would normally be safely submerged. The impact pitched Paulson forward, and she cracked a rib.
"I know where all the big rocks are. I know how to avoid them. Now the lake is so low, we have to worry about the smaller ones, too."
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