After a very damaging 2017 and 2019, it has been a while since the shorelines of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River battled extreme high water, and with a relatively mild winter so far, the lack of ice will only help.
However, water levels of the Great Lakes are higher than average right now. It’s something everyone from the southern shores of the lake, all the way up the river, are keeping an eye on.
It’s certainly not time to panic, but with water levels on the Great Lakes already a bit above average, a change in the weather or a massive snow or ice formation, could put the state back on notice, and concerns that flooding along the shorelines of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River could be an issue in 2023.
It could also put the western end of the state — areas like Sodus — in a small conflict with areas like Clayton.
“We need to be able to talk back and forth and exchange views," Save the River Executive Director John Peach said, echoing the thoughts of Save our Sodus President Don Riling.
Recently, the International Joint Commission, which manages Plan 2014 - regulating outflows - completed the first phase of a study on the plan and how to best correct management over the short-term, a time frame which some in the western area say got lost in the shuffle with the plan’s short -term, causing high water and damaging floods.
The IJC has begun the second phase, which focuses more on impacts of long-term impacts of extreme dry and extreme wet weather.
“We think Plan 2014 is the operating plan. It may need some tweaks," Peach added.
Riling agreed with that, but with perhaps some differing ideas on those tweaks.
This second phase will not be completed for another two years. Any changes to the plan would need to be approved by not only the IJC, but Canadian and American governments.
“We don't want to have anything that impacts negatively Jefferson or Oswego County or any of the other counties, including Wayne and the other counties along the Lake Ontario coastline," Rep. Claudia Tenney said.
It was back in November when Tenney, who was running for her new seat in Congress, met with Plan 2014 supporters in Clayton. But also, back then, those on the river and the eastern end of the lake and those on the western and southern end, were represented by different members of Congress.
“One thing that's great about this district, there's a lot more in common than not," said Tenney.
However, for the most part is not all parts, and now with redistricting taking place this year, the district has grown to include both sections of the shoreline, sections that have somewhat different views on how water levels need to be regulated.
“We've got to come up with a way that makes this work, and dealing with the bureaucracy in Washington is a challenge at times," Tenney added.
So just as she has — and will continue to — the congresswoman will visit and sit with both regions and hope to have honest conversations about the future.
“To see the river to be out there with captains like Captain Garnsey, with local politicians, with environmentalists and people from the Thousand Islands, Land Trust. And to hear all different sides of the story,” Peach said.
The IJC says no plan management can every fully prevent extreme highs or lows, or eliminate their impact
As for the western end of the district, the president of Save our Sodus, a group aimed at protecting the southern shores of the lake says, “Save our Sodus is actively engaged in the expedited review of Plan 2014 by the IJC through one of our board members’ participation in the public advisory group. We do not support the abolition of Plan 2014, but rather we prefer to work on improvements to the plan to better mitigate the effects of higher highs and lower lows so that the pain is more equitably distributed along the shorelines of both Canada and the United States.”