The water

We are blessed here in Charlevoix. The Alcove Cafe is one block from "Round Lake," actually part of Lake Charlevoix; two blocks from Lake Michigan; and one block from the channel that connects Lake Michigan with Lake Charlevoix.

Lake Charlevoix is spring-fed, so the water is clean and clear. It has a mostly sandy bottom, and all summer long it's a beautiful deep blue. Yes, I know it's just reflecting the sky, but still ...

Lake Michigan changes with the seasons, and with the day. Two weeks ago I sat on the beach a block from my house, drinking wine with my cousin and her husband, gazing at a dark blue-gray lake, and sky the color of cornflowers, with a scattrering of puffy cumulus clouds, like the ones I used to see in the sky when I was a little girl. Day before yesterday I drove by an angry gray lake with whitecaps, under an angry gray sky. The beach was deserted and desolate. Today it poured down rain all day. All day. You could barely see the lakes. We're all astonished -- went most of the summer without any rain at all, bad for the flowers, although it was great for tourists and those of us who hate to mow our lawns.

The town's City Council recently approved the construction of an interactive fountain in our new downtown waterfront park, at a cost of $380,000. It may not seem like a lot of money to you, but it's a large commitment for a community of 2900 people. What sold the people of the town on the idea was the image painted by our Mr. Petunia, who drives a water truck around town every morning in the summer to water the petunias that line the streets. He spoke eloquently to us about the sound of children laughing, squealing, and rolicking in the water of the fountain.

The park, a narrow strip of land abutting the new marina, will also have a trout stream. That's a lot of water for one small strip of land. And we're talking about an artificial ice rink in the same area, so that we can extend our "water" activities into winter. Of course we have a ski hill, too, but it's a half mile down the road. A couple of years ago two high school students started a restaurant called "Two boys and a grill." It made a killing. The restaurant was a pontoon boat with a grill, a couple of coolers, and a smoothie machine. It floated in Round Lake, and served a clientelle of boaters. And a couple of weeks ago a group of local citizens built a "rain garden" at our new library.

We are all about water. We love it ourselves, and it is the basis for much of our economy. We do our best to keep the water clean, but have a problem -- storm water runs over the downtown streets and highways, through the storm sewers, and into Round Lake. Unfiltered. Carrying oils and gasoline, and anything else people leave on the streets and sidewalks. Some have suggested that we should install a filtering system in the storm sewers instead of building the fountain. Costs are comparable. But there are problems with the filtering solution. It's at the endpoint, rather than the source; it would present serious maintenance issues; and it just wouldn't be effective.

This summer a 15-minute storm dropped a large amount of water onto our downtown. The storm sewers were overwhelmed (I know because water backed up in my basement), and a small river raced down the middle of Park Avenue in front of the restaurant. In fact, a river rushed down each of the "side" streets in our downtown, across M31, and into Round Lake, bypassing the storm sewer system altogether, and tipping over a large dump truck on its way.

We need a solution to this problem. Blessed with water everywhere, it would be a shame if Charlevoix found it necessary to post "Unsafe for swimming" signs on Round Lake.