View - The Municipality of Lambton Shores

Levels are literally off the charts already, having sunk below levels identified on navigation maps used by commercial
shippers and pleasure boaters.
For cargo shippers, “Everything is rosy when you are above that (chart level) but when you go below (it), you have to
decrease your load and make more frequent trips,” said Geoff Peach of the Goderich-based advocacy group Great
Lakes Centre for Coastal Conservation.
Water levels in Lake Huron are forecast this month to reach their lowest levels since 1964.
Levels were at their highest in 1986, when docks were swamped, shorelines eroded and lakefront properties
jeopardized.
Closer to home, Lake Erie, blessed with more rainfall this year than some of its sister lakes, is not near record low
levels but its volume is still lower than recorded averages.
Officials began logging levels in 1918 and waterlines in all the Great Lakes are well below the average.
Bringing levels back up is a slow process, though. Hydrologists say what could help turn the tide this winter would be
a cold season with plenty of ice cover; that would stop evaporation and add to spring run-off.
debora.vanbrenk@sunmedia.ca
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THE PROBLEM...AND ITS EFFECTS
Why are lake levels lower?
Rainfall and run-off can increase lake levels. Evaporation can lower levels. In recent years, evaporation
rates have outpaced rainfall and runoff; seasons have become warmer and drier, and last winter was one of the
driest on record.
Many say the drop is cyclical and will rebound.
Some environmentalists pin the decline partly on a faster-flowing St. Clair River and say dredging there has
made the river a sort of plug-puller on the upper-lakes basin. “There is a very significant factor that humans
have the ability to control,” says Mary Muter of the Ontario Great Lakes section of the Sierra Club. Her group
advocates installing an underwater sail to adjust water flows in the St. Clair River.
On recreation/beachfront
Areas that once had thin beaches now have broad stretches of sand.
Boat slips stand higher above water and docks are sometimes landlocked, far from the water’s edge
On marinas and ports
Marinas may find themselves dredging more often to accommodate their larger boat tenants.
Ports are shallower, sometimes requiring shippers to place lighter loads on vessels.
Depth is still fine in the channel and harbour at Goderich, the region’s biggest commercial port. Goderich
Mayor Deb Shewfelt says everyone is keeping an eye on levels in the event ships need to lighten their loads.
Even so, “It’s basically full speed ahead” on the new $48-milion port expansion, he said.
On ecology
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