| Comment Text |
| Winter levels on Kegonsa have been lower than usual the last two years. Many people have suffered significant shoreline damage because of this. |
| The main reason why the City of Madison has to add dump truck loads of sand to the beaches at Brittingham Beach ,Bernie's Beach and the Olin Park beach almost every year is the fact that the lake water level is lowered so low in the winter that waves can more easily erode away the exposed sand shoreline and carry the sand out further into the lake. Then in the spring when the snow melt and spring floods over fill the lake again, the higher beach areas are then eroded away to replace the sand that was carried out into the lake when the water was low. If the Lake Monona water level was maintained at a more constant level this extreme erosion would not happen. |
| Any changes in how the lake water levels are managed will also have an effect on water levels in Wingra Creek. Over the years, Wingra Creek has been severely altered by the extreme difference between the summer average high water level and the winter minimum allowed low water level in Lake Monona. This has caused the banks of the creek to erode away and silt in the bottom and has also caused the width of the creek to become wider and the average water depth to become less as the banks have continued to slough off over time. If the Lake Monona water level was maintained at a more constant level without the extreme winter lows, the banks of Wingra Creek would not erode away so easily. |
| Starkweather Creek on Madison's east side has been damaged by stream bank erosion due to the annual extreme water levels of Lake Monona. A few years ago Madison solved?? the erosion problems on Starkweather Creek by driving sheet piling along large sections of the creek and heavily rip-rapping other sections. These engineered sections of Starkweather Creek now look man-made and ugly. Some sections of sheet-piled areas along the banks are starting to lean towards the creek and will have to be redone at some point in the future.
If the frogs, toads and turtles using the creek had any say in the matter they would reject re-sheetpiling Starkweather Creek. They have an almost impossible task of getting in and out of the water when there are steel sheet piles and stone rip-rap lining most of the stream banks.
Madison needs to stop using its lakes as large storm water retention ponds and maintain the lake water levels at a more constant level. The real answer to where to put all the storm water that rains down on our roofs, streets, and parking areas is real storm water retention ponds and rain gardens built into each and every block of this city where ever it is physically possible.
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| This could be a positive for Lake Mendota depending on water elevation is being proposed. Not sure about the other lakes. |
| This recommendation has unanimous support from YLAG 2. The recommendation to establish winter maximum levels also has support from a majority of the group. Thus recommendations for winter levels should be a priority when YLAG 2 reconvenes in 2014 if not sooner. |
| This recommendation has unanimous support from YLAG 2. The recommendation to establish winter maximum levels also has support from a majority of the group. Thus recommendations for winter levels should be a priority when YLAG 2 reconvenes in 2014 if not sooner.
Jan Axelson |
| The water level in Lake Monona is being allowed to be too low in the winter and early spring. This causes damage to the shorelines of Olin-Turville Park at the beach and along the shoreline in Turville Bay where the sand is eroded away from the banks during the low water period. Then in the spring and summer when the lake water level is maintained too high causing the water to eat away at the shoreline more easily because the former sand deposits at the shoreline were eaten away during the low water period. |
| The water level in Lake Monona is being allowed to be too low in the winter and early spring. This causes damage to the shorelines of Olin-Turville Park at the beach and in Turville Bay where the sand is eroded away from the banks during the low water period. Then in the spring and summer when the lake water level is maintained too high causing the water to eat away at the shoreline more easily because the former sand deposits at the shoreline were eaten away during the low water period. |
| This is important to protect the lake-marsh ecosystem. Understanding the need to have some storage for spring runoff, a higher winter level and a lesser increase above the minimum for fish would have a positive environmental impact. |
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