Letter: Don't be so quick to open sluice gate

We have lived on a channel of Long Lake for 30 years. It is a beautiful lake when the water level is normal as marked by the line in the seawalls all around the lake. Mother Nature fills the lake, sometimes too full as in the 100-year floods of "17, '19 and '20. If you live in the flood plain or in a flood zone, you are going to have flooding. There is a dam on the outlet side, which holds our lake level 3 feet above Manitou Creek and the Chain O' Lakes. The sluice gate can be opened in times of flooding.

Decades ago, the dam needed repair along with a new sluice gate. Many fundraisers by the local volunteer association LLISA.org raised money to fix the dam and replace the sluice gate. But lately, they have opened the sluice gate to lower the lake in May and when it stops raining, it stays low. Most of June and July our channel where we have our pontoon boat has had only a foot of water when normally there is two feet and the low water has allowed the weeds and algae to thrive. No boat this season again.

Many requests to LLISA have gone unanswered. It is so frustrating having them raise money to repair the dam and fix the sluice gate only to have them open the sluice gate and lower the lake by bypassing the dam. Please keep the dam sluice gate closed.

Judd Hansen

Long Lake