The following testimony was provided by the Devils Lake Neighborhood Association (DLNA) to the Devils Lake Water Improvement District (DLWID) on March 13, 2014.
My name is Mitchell Moore and I live at 2929 NE Loop Drive. On behalf of the overwhelming majority of residents living in the boundaries of the Association I offer the following written comments in support of the verbal testimony provided at the same meeting.
Request:
To begin, we repeat our request that the DLWID add lake level on the March agenda, and resolve to exercise the maximum impoundment right of 9.53’ beginning April 15th through October 15th.
Furthermore, given the extreme conditions that exists in the lake today, the members of DLNA request that the District begin the water monitoring season immediately. The purpose of this action would be to identify health hazards as soon as they exist and document current conditions for future study.
Comments:
Over the past few years the District has suggested that there is a lot of mis-information out in the community which cause problems between the public and the District. Several statements from unknown origins, were made during the February board meeting by board members and staff that seemed on the surface to be repeats of some of this mis-information. We spent some time researching these statements and our findings suggest they were either incorrect or misleading.
HABS Phenomena
The first statement made by a couple of board members last month suggested that the increased level of algae bloom in 2013 was part of unusual Statewide HABS phenomena. This inferred that an increase in all lakes reasonably explained our experience at Devils Lake. (See image from Leisure Bay October 11, 2013)
Our Fact Check indicates that on a Statewide basis this was not really an unusual year. Each year the Oregon Health Authority publishes a report on Harmful Algal Blooms. Continue reading