Lake Management Plan Meeting #2
Tuesday, July 10th, 2007
7:00 Lake Manawa Country Club
Kevin Seevers, West Pottawattamie County Resource Planner and Chairman of the Lake Manawa Lake Management Plan, started the second meeting with a power point presentation summarizing the DNR presentations from the first meeting. Dan Jacobs, the new Lake Manawa State Park, Park Manager was introduced. The Lake Management Plan Technical Advisory Team categorized the citizen concerns gathered at the first meeting as:
Water quality 154
Law Enforcement 42
Safety 69
User Fee 49
Capitol Improvements 76
Litter Control 26
Campground 36
Unclassified 67
The technical advisory team will add more to this list. Water quality issues included: dredging, shoreline stabilization, water turbidity due to silt and algae, improving fishery, storm sewers, trash in the lake and the lake water level.
Several attendees’ questions were answered. The recent drop in water level was due to a malfunctioning pump at the Mosquito Creek inlet. The soonest the dredge could happen would be the fall of 2008. The DOT is looking for fill for the spring of 2009. It is not known if there are natural springs in the lake. The ground water flows from north to south. The ground water table is higher on the north end and is seeping out at the south end. It is important not to open a ground water channel to the river thus endangering the lake. The environmental engineering study to be commissioned in the fall will address many of these issues.
Kevin then outlined the next step in the developing the Lake Management Plan, organizing a Watershed Council made up of 6 – 15 volunteers. They would attend evening meetings about 2 hours long to help the technical advisory team establish goals and objectives and explore management alternatives and their costs for the resource concerns in each category. Watershed Council members should have a deep passionate concern for water quality. Kevin closed the meeting by inviting anyone present who was interested in serving on the Watershed Council to sign up with him after the meeting. About 25 people expressed interest by signing up.
