Your column item "DNR on Water Levels: Hurry Up and Wait" (Watchdog, 11/14/08) is a great sound bite, but misses the mark completely.
Lowering Lake Mendota in the interest of creating more storage space for floodwaters runs counter to every storm-water management program on the books and takes the pressure off municipalities to develop effective storm-water management controls.
Where is the science in this approach? Has the UW, Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Geological Survey and UW-Extension been asked for ideas?
Just a 12" drop would reduce the depth at the end of a friend's 125' pier to 23" at the summer minimum, barely enough to float a sailboat. And if we had a dry summer, then what?
Where is the leadership on this from Dane County, which actually manages the lakes in the Yahara chain? The DNR is right to ask for consensus, but it should demand science as well. The fate of our beautiful lakes depends on it.
Donald Sanford