Swimming is one of America's favorite sport. From newborns to ninety year
olds, everyone enjoys a relaxing dip in the water. In our backyards we
have access to a wonderful manmade lake, where we can enjoy swimming on
a nice warm summer day. As participants in this activity, we can become
guardians of our lake and good neighbors, by simply communicating to our
neighbors and lake association members what we see in the lake. It would
be great if we had a 35 acre swimming pool in our backyards, but we don't.
Just think about how much chlorine we would need every month and how long
it would take to clean the bottom. We've never seen ducks and geese swimming
around in someone's backyard pool and its doubtful that any frogs or turtles
are in someone's pool. So when we go swimming in the lake we must always
remember that it is a lake and their are many hazards.
Hazards to be aware of:
-
extreme
depth changes
-
boulders
-
boat docks
-
weed patches
-
submerged
fish structures
-
unknown debris
-
SCLA creature
of the deep
Things
we can do to help the lake:
-
Whenever
you see broken glass or garbage, please pick it up to prevent a young
child from being injured
-
Take notice of
the fish population and if anything uncommon is seen, notify a lake board
member.
-
Don't
feed
the ducks
-
Take a young child
to swimming lessons
-
Be respectful
of your neighbors
-
Don't pet the SCLA creature of the deep, we'd like him to leave
-
Enjoy the
day on the water with your family
In the past
we have had a problem with swimmers itch, this was first noticed after
the fish kill that took place in 1992. The lake was out of it's
natural balance, this created many problems. The lake association has a
long term commitment to maintain the natural balance of the lake through
good management. With the help of the Illinois Department of Conservation,
we believe that we have eliminated the swimmers itch problem for years
to come. When your in the water and you see different species of fish of
different sizes, frogs, turtles , and other aquatic life forms, you will
know that your swimming in a lake that has regained its natural balance.
Enjoy it, if you have any problems contact the lake association, you input
is valued.