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September’s drop came at the end of the boating season, lessening the impact at the marina, McClennan said.
“It disappointed a few people . . . not being able to get in and out of the channel, but other than that it hasn’t really
affected too much.”
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is predicting November and December water levels in Lake Huron and Lake
Michigan will match 1964’s record low, and set new record lows in early 2013.
There has been a cycle of high and low water levels since record keeping began in 1918, said Karen Alexander, with
the Lake Huron Centre for Coastal Conservation.
“Right now, we’re in a very extended low period,” she said. “The length of time the lake has remained low has never
happened before.”
Potential reasons include climate change leading to lower rainfall, as well as ongoing evaporation in winter because
of less ice cover, Alexander said.
Another factor - particularly for the Canadian side of the lake - is isostatic rebound from the retreat of glaciers several
thousand years ago, she said.
The land mass is rebounding from the impact of the weight of glaciers that covered the region during the last ice age.
“That is happening at a faster rate on this side of the lake than on the other side,” Alexander said.
The impact of low water levels includes extended lakeshore property as water recedes, the build up of sand dunes
and migration of vegetation and coastal wetlands, she said.
“It’s actually very healthy for the coast to go through these changes.”
What’s not known, Alexander said, is the long-term impact climate change will have on the water level cycle.
It’s possible the range of high and low water levels could change, she said, “but the cycle will continue.”
Water levels also fell in each of the other Great Lakes, and Lake St. Clair, during September, according to
Environment Canada.
A message on the website of the Bluewater Ferry that runs between Sombra and Marine City, Michigan on the St.
Clair River says that due to low water it’s not currently able to take vehicles weighing more than 80,000 pounds,
including large coach buses.
Low water levels can cause constraints on the size of cargos carried by ships on the lake, according to Robert Lewis-
Manning, president of the Canadian Shipowners Association.
He added many shipping companies are used to managing cargo loads through the year as water levels change.
“What’s unusual is how early in the year we’ve seen it,” he said.
“We were seeing water levels in July we might expect in October.”
But, it’s not having “a drastic impact on the bottom line” of the shipping companies, he said.
paul.morden@sunmedia.ca
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