Easy Questions About Lake Okoboji Water Quality
Okoboji area homeowners could find themselves paying a hefty fine if they use chemicals to kill weeds that ensnare their boats, tangle swimmers and spoil weekends on the lakes.
Rep. John Wills, a Republican from Spirit Lake, has proposed a bill that makes it a serious misdemeanor for Iowans to use chemicals to battle aquatic weeds such as curlyleaf pondweed.
The fast-growing invasive plant is overrunning parts of the Iowa Great Lakes, choking East Okoboji and Lower Gar, and threatening West Okoboji and Spirit Lake.
The bill, making its way to the House floor for debate, would allow the Iowa Department of Agriculture to fine Iowans $1,000 for dumping chemicals into a lake that's used for drinking water.
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Wills said the bill would only affect the Iowa Great Lakes area, a regional tourist destination with about a million visitors annually.
The lakes provide drinking water for four utilities, Wills said, and homeowners who dump chemicals to treat the water around their docks could contaminate it.
Many of the chemicals being used are not designed for water and some are carcinogenic, he said.
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"We really need to clamp down on this," Wills said. "We do not want to have a Flint, Michigan, happening here," with people drinking water that's unsafe.
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources could ticket someone for dumping chemicals now, but it's up to a court to set the fine.
Wills said he wants to make enforcement clearer.
The bill would allow licensed applicators to use chemicals to kill aquatic weeds.
Otherwise, homeowners can pull the weeds by hand or with a rake or have them mechanically cut.
Wills said other recreational hot spots, such as Clear Lake, aren't using the water for drinking, and reservoirs that are used for drinking water, such as Saylorville, don't have problems with aquatic weeds that are invading the Okoboji area.
Curlyleaf pondweeds and other aquatic plants are popping up in the Iowa Great Lakes because of improved water quality, Wills said.
Curlyleaf pondweed has been in the lakes area for at least three decades, but clearer water lets sunlight penetrate more deeply, helping the weeds grow.
Over the past three years, curlyleaf pondweed has become a hot topic, with Okoboji area residents debating how best to battle the plants.
Homeowners on the north end of East Okoboji Lake face being unable to use the water for weeks, limiting boating, swimming and water skiing.
Boaters must use a path carved by a massive aquatic weed harvester to reach the area's other lakes.
Last year, some residents raised concerns about using a herbicide and its impact on drinking water, while homeowners say the mechanical cutting is expensive and can't keep pace with the weeds.
This year, a local working group and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources have agreed to do both:
- They plan to harvest at least 40 acres of weeds, providing boating paths through the hardest hit areas of the Great Lakes.
- And they plan to conduct a pilot, using a herbicide designed to kill aquatic weeds in a 10-acre area in both East Okoboji Lake and Lower Gar.
The herbicide can be safely used when handled correctly, said Mike Hawkins, a DNR biologist, and it's being tried in areas where herbicides are "miles and miles away" from drinking water intakes and the plants are densest.
Although officials don't expect the herbicide will move from the test area, Iowa Lakeside Laboratory plans to sample water to ensure the chemical doesn't reach water intakes, Hawkins said.
The estimated cost of the removal effort is $40,000, with the East Okoboji Lakes Improvement Corp. providing $10,000. Iowa DNR plans to provide $30,000 through the marine fuel sales tax, designated for improved boating access.
Hawkins expects another season of exploding curlyleaf pondweed.
He and others have drilled holes in the ice to check the cool-weather plant. "It's there and growing," Hawkins said.
In addition to snarling the lake, the weeds bring new problems when they die: Large balls of dead weeds push into docks and harbors that crews must remove.
And the plants left in the water will decompose, potentially fostering blue-green algae blooms and fish kills.
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Even though the plants are seen as a nuisance, they can be beneficial: They can help make the water cleaner, using excess nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus, and provide fish with good habitat and food.
Hawkins said he's seen record high numbers of crappies, yellow perch and bluegills, both when newly hatched fish and at a year old.
Wills said anglers are having the best fishing ever.
"There's been an astronomical harvest of perch and bluegill, which are quick to react to the conditions of the lake," said Wills, coordinator for the Dickinson County Clean Water Alliance.
"And the lakes are clearer than they've ever been," he said, crediting, in part, long-term water quality efforts. "I've fished the harbor of West Okoboji since I was 15. I'm going to turn 52, and I've never ever been able to see the bottom of the harbor," about 9 feet deep.
"Last summer, for the entire summer, I could see the bottom of the harbor," he said.
Source: https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/agriculture/2018/02/16/okoboji-residents-could-face-hefty-fine-if-they-use-chemicals-fight-lake-weeds/323851002/
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