Looking to restore Whitewater lake's luster

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The lake has never been put high on the agenda. We need to get public awareness. This lake not only serves the people who live around it, it is an important part of our local resources. If nothing else, the city should want to improve the lake from an image standpoint.

Now, is the time for a call to arms. People need to get more vocal and involved. There needs to be a clamoring for better lake quality. It will come, but it won't come without headaches.

Rick Fassl
A Whitewater resident for more than 30 years, Fassl was part of a group that attended a recent meeting organized by Tom Barnes, director of the city's parks, recreation, forestry department, to discuss possible improved lake management solutions.

Tripp Lake options
Local residents have three options for taking a lead role in managing Tripp Lake, said Jeffrey Thornton, a principal senior lake management planner with the Southeast Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission.

The options are:

-- Do nothing, allow the city to continue its plan.

"But then the community is at the mercy of the city, which has many other priorities on its plate," Thornton said.

-- Form a voluntary resident lake property association, which could be as simple as a group of people gathering to accomplish a goal or take steps to incorporate the association. Incorporation provides legal protection.

-- Form a special purpose of government, such as a public inland lake protection and rehabilitation district. Lake management districts are governmental units, which means all property owners within the district contribute to it.

"It's unlike an association, where the burden falls on a few individuals," Thornton said.

More than 800 such lake organizations exist in the state, with about half of them being lake management districts organized under state statutes as a special unit of government