Lake Norman washing away state park?

Several acres of sediment are being lapped into Lake Norman from the state park near Troutman each year, creating what some longtime homeowners call a hazard to boaters and fish.

Homeowners across from the 1,328-acre Lake Norman State Park in Iredell County have added rocks and other landscaping to try and prevent erosion of property into the state's largest manmade lake.

But nothing safeguards most of the 13 miles of park shoreline. Erosion has carved embankments as high as 15 feet along Hicks Creek and main channel sections of the lake there .Boaters have to be alert for trees that have toppled into the water from the park's shoreline.

Sediment clogs fish gills, reducing resistance to disease, and hurts fish egg and larvae development as well, according to the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Nutrients transported by sediment can activate blue-green algae that release toxins and can make swimmers sick, according to the department.

Homeowners say boat wakes share at least part of the blame. But state law penalizes only land-based activities that force sediment into lakes and streams.

"If someone takes a bulldozer and pushes trees into the water, that would be something we would enforce," said Jamie Kritzer, spokesman for the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Raleigh.

"Sedimentation and erosion constitute a major pollution problem" in N.C. waterways, Kritzer said. "However, the state doesn't have the authority to enforce (against) sedimentation and erosion that occurs because of things that are not caused by land-disturbing activity," he said.

Duke Energy, which manages the lake under federal license, can assist a property owner in developing a shoreline stabilization plan that will meet federal requirements, spokesperson Andy Thompson said.

It's up to property owners to decide that they want to do such work, and then seek a permit from Duke, he said.

But the state doesn't have the money to do anything to help prevent the erosion of the park's shoreline, Lake Norman State Park ranger Jason Gwinn said.

Longtime lake homeowners Frank Johnson and Ken Brendle asked Gwinn and an Observer reporter and photographer to tour a section of the park's eroded shoreline recently aboard Brendle's boat.

"You can see the park is literally losing acreage because of erosion," Gwinn agreed on the tour.

Johnson, a former N.C. Board of Transportation member appointed by then-Gov. Mike Easley, said he's seen several acres of park shoreline erode each year, but that the problem has intensified with the return of rain after years of drought.

More, larger boats that create bigger wakes are also to blame, Brendle said.

"We have seen a lot more erosion over the past two years on the lake, primarily due to increased boat activity," Catawba Riverkeeper David Merryman agreed. The nonprofit Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation works to protect the Catawba River, its lakes, tributaries and watershed.

Merryman said creating a no-wake zone along the park's shore would lessen erosion. He called on the Lake Norman Marine Commission to enact such a measure.

The five-member, government-appointed commission is responsible for all matters affecting recreation and water safety on the lake.

Ron Shoultz, Iredell County's representative on the commission, said anyone is welcome to formally apply for a no-wake zone. Requests typically come from homeowner associations, he said, but individuals can apply, too.

By Joe Marusak
jmarusak@charlotteobserver.com Posted: Sunday, Aug. 30, 2009

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