Group seeks to solve lake woes

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Lake Austin is a popular spot for boating or swimming, but the lake is plagued by a handful of problems that threaten its continued livelihood.

Five months ago, the Austin City Council created the Lake Austin Task Force to tackle some of the issues facing Austin’s popular spot to cool off.

“What we’re seeing is a lot of development pressure and recreational use pressure on Lake Austin,” city of Austin Environmental Officer Chuck Lesniak said.

• Photos from Lake Austin

Pressing issues threatening Lake Austin include the growing hydrilla problem, shoreline erosion, un-permitted development of private property, and high boat traffic.

Today, the task force held a public meeting not in an office building – but on a barge motoring around Lake Austin . The unusual meeting location was chosen to give the task force members a chance to see firsthand the problems they are trying to solve.

“The Council and the community are starting to have concerns about overuse, too much development, inappropriate development and erosion of the banks,” Lesniak said.

Erosion of the banks is largely caused by the waves created by boats, called wakes . Popular Austin water sports wakeboarding and wakesurfing require large boat wakes, and some say that speeds erosion.

“From a wakeboarding standpoint,” task force member Nick Wiersema said, “what you’re tending to do is weight the boat a little bit to sink more of the hull and produce a bigger wake to launch off of.”

Andrew Clamann, a task force member and employee of the City of Austin Watershed Protection Department , is concerned about the large wakes from the popular sports.

“You do increase the pressures on the shoreline and that, as a result, will often manifest itself in erosion,” Clamann said.

The goal of the task force is to find solutions that will allow lake-goers to continue enjoying their favorite activities, but do so in a way that will not degrade the lake shore.

Wiersema, a wakesurfing enthusiast himself, believes the task force can accomplish that with no-wake zones. He proposes that by expanding no-wake zones near sensitive shoreline areas, as well as cultivating public outreach concerning the proper operation of a boat in a no-wake zone, the erosion can be slowed.

If you would like to get involved in the problem-solving, the Lake Austin Task Force will be holding an open meeting on Oct. 22. Check the task force website for the upcoming time and location announcement, and also for more information on becoming a member.