The Problems At Skeleton Lake
Through human activities, we have upset the aquatic eco-system of Skeleton Lake. We have allowed over-development of the lake. We are concerned that grey water is finding its way into the lake. Some riparian areas have been damaged. The fish habitat has been reduced and we are taking more water out of the lake than can be replenished naturally.
The concerns our group are addressing are related to the seriously declining lake level, water quality issues and decreasing fish spawning habitat. Skeleton Lake is at its lowest level in more than 40 years. The lake is a source of domestic water for the Village of Boyle and a large number of residents in the area of Boyle including residents of Skeleton Lake and Amisk Lake as well as the farming community who use this water for cattle and domestic use.
Currently, the Village of Boyle consumes almost 50 million gallons of Skeleton Lake water each year. Boyle has consistently exceeded its authorized diversion of water from Skeleton Lake every year since 1998.
Skeleton Lake is not a sustainable source of water for Boyle and each year it declines. For these reasons, Alberta Environment has identified an urgent need for Boyle to find an alternative source of water. There are approximately 850 people in the Village of Boyle and an estimated 3,000 people in the surrounding area, consuming Skeleton Lake water. Tank loaders alone take approximately 4 million gallons of water a year from the Boyle treatment plant. At this point in time, the water balance equation has been upset in that outflow now exceeds inflow. Demands for water are only continuing to increase. Skeleton Lake has a very fragile watershed ratio of 4 to 1 which cannot sustain this outflow.
As the quantity of water has decreased, the quality is correspondingly deteriorating. Generally speaking, the shallower a lake body is, the poorer the quality of water. Restoring the lake level to its historical levels of approximately 3 to 5 feet more water than currently is in the lake would be of great benefit to the aquatic eco-system, the overall health of the lake and quality of water as well as the fish spawning habitat.
Here are the solutions that we propose.
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