Fontana Lake is one of this region’s most impressive resources, and its untapped economic potential for Swain and Graham counties is immense. To protect this resource, residents of those counties should support efforts that have started to eliminate the human waste that flows from the lavatories on the hundreds - perhaps thousands - of boathouses that now float on the lake.

Swain County officials recently met to discuss this issue. There are state laws that make it illegal to dump the contents from boat lavatories into bodies of fresh water, but a state environmental official says the law is seldom enforced.

So Swain officials are considering their own ordinance, one developed with the boathouse owners. They are trying to walk a fine line between keeping the lake clean and not putting an undue burden on those who use the boathouses.

But here’s the bottom line: the very reason so many people flock to the lake during the summer is to swim, fish and simply enjoy the beauty and serenity. If those who use Fontana Lake aren’t willing to help solve the waste problem, it will only get worse. The lake users will be the ones who force state or federal officials to put an end to the freedom that boathouse owners now enjoy.

The “boathouses” are, literally, floating RVs. Perhaps there are those in this region who have not been to the lake in the summer and seen them.They are everywhere, and they run the gamut from tin-sided shacks kept afloat by old barrels to luxury accommodations worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. They also dispose of human waste in a number of ways, but many of them simply dump their contents into the lake. That creates environmental problems and is against the law.

What Swain wants is for each marina to be equipped to handle waste. Waste can be “black” (from toilets) or “grey” (from sinks, showers, washing machines, etc.). The marina owner at Alarka has a boat with a 250-gallon storage tank. He visits the boathouses, pumps the waste into the tank, and then discharges it into a specially designed septic system at the marina.

These counties have been debating with the Tennessee Valley Authority for years about keeping lake levels up so they could extend their tourist season. There doesn’t appear to be any breakthroughs imminent in this debate, but taking local measures and investing local money into keeping the lake clean should help convince TVA that these counties are serious about Lake Fontana.

First and foremost, however, is keeping the lake clean for users and for the flourishing aquatic life. Outhouses dumping directly into Fontana Lake should be eliminated immediately.

 

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The Smoky Mountain News