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What Should be Done with Dunes Lake?

Bill Schuster, head of the Door County Soil and Water Conservation Department, said “We’re going to need everybody to do something, and hopefully do more than just the minimum” in order to make an impact on the premature aging of Dunes Lake in the Town of Sevastopol. Photo by Len Villano.

A crowd of about 40 residents and representatives came together at Sevastopol Town Hall on Aug. 13 to begin answering one question: What should be done with Dunes Lake?

In 2008, amid anecdotal evidence that the Town of Sevastopol lake was aging more quickly than normal, the Door County Soil and Water Conservation Department (SWCD) began a scientific study of Dunes Lake and the area which contributes water to it, which is known as a watershed.

When sharing their results at the meeting, the SWCD said a high presence of nitrogen and phosphorus in the waters which feed the lake are causing rapid plant growth and a loss of the oxygen needed for fish or mussels to survive, a process known as eutrophication.

If left unchecked, this advanced aging process will continue until the lake becomes a bog and, eventually, completely fills in.

“There’s a natural, slow aging process for water bodies, but human activities can speed that process up,” said Bill Schuster, who heads the SWCD and led the meeting. “All lakes are aging…but the observation is that this lake is going faster than one would expect.”

According to the study, about 72 percent of the land in the watershed is used for agriculture. Runoff from these fields can carry manure remnants, which include nitrogen and phosphorus, into tributary streams which feed into Giesel Creek and then Dunes Lake.

The study also suggests wastewater discharge and leakage from the pond at Sevastopol Sanitary District No. 1 contributes almost a quarter of the phosphorus that reaches the lake. Wastewater from the sanitary pond is leaking into the groundwater at an increased rate each year, with leakage estimated at 601 gallons per acre per day in 2009.

“What’s allowable [under the law] is up to 1,000 gallons per acre per day. So they’re well within the limit,” said SWCD conservationist Greg Coulthurst. “But in the same section of the code it says you can require less than 1,000 gallons a day.”

Restrictions to the 1,000 gallons per acre per day allowance are usually made in areas where certain soil or groundwater characteristics, such as the shallow soils and fractured bedrock found in the Dunes Lake watershed, cause wastewater leakage to have a greater impact on water quality.

Before opening the floor to residents who wanted to provide their opinions, Schuster stressed one group or entity can’t single-handedly solve the Dunes Lake problem.

“What it comes down to, and we’re going to be saying this to all the stakeholders, is we’re going to need everybody to do something, and hopefully do more than just the minimum,” said Schuster. “And that’s not just the farmers. It’s the sanitary district, it’s the school, it’s everyone.”

The SWCD study put forth multiple recommendations for actions to be taken by farmers, the sanitary district, and all residents in the watershed area to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus flows into the lake.

Notable agricultural recommendations include the installation of manure storage facilities and tillage setbacks, as well as the promotion of wetland restoration projects. Re-establishing wetlands between farms and the lake would help to filter nutrients from the watershed before they reach the lake.

As far as the sanitary district, the report suggests treating the wastewater in the pond with alum, a purification chemical, before discharging it, evaluating the pond liner to eliminate leakage, and even possibly connecting the Sevastopol Sanitary District to the City of Sturgeon Bay’s Wastewater Utilities.

Residents’ moods in the wake of the report were mixed, with some supportive and some critical of its findings and suggestions.

“I live less than half a mile from Dunes Lake; I go in there all the time with my boys,” said resident Mike Bruno, after the meeting. “It’s a beautiful place. But I want it saved in a way that’s not harmful to the community.”

Bruno said he’d hate to see even more pressure put on the farmers he already sees disappearing from the region.

“I moved here 20 years ago and there was a farmer on every side of me, and now there’s none,” he said. “Agriculture is important too, as is Dunes Lake.”

Resident Al Kiessel, who lives on Giesel Creek, said he thinks the presentation went well and was a good first step towards finding a solution to what’s happening at Dunes Lake.

“People shouldn’t get too excited right now about costs or change and having to do things different because they’re just not to that point yet,” said Kiessel. “The ag group, the sewer group, and the water conservation folks need to have their meetings. The town needs to have their meetings and come back so we can understand what their thinking is.”

According to Sevastopol Sanitary District president David Leist, engineers from the district will first try to sort out inconsistencies between their findings and the SWCD report. They’ll then dive into discussing any changes that might be made at the treatment pond.

“I don’t think we’re in bad shape, but we’re willing to help,” said Leist. “I think there are several things we could do to make a difference.”

The topic of what to do at Dunes Lake will also be taken up at the next Sevastopol Town Board meeting on August 20. The Dunes Lake report can be found online at map.co.door.wi.us/swcd