Symposium speakers: Lake James water safe for swimming, boating

Things haven’t been normal on Lake James since Sept. 26, 2024. That was the day before Hurricane Helene turned Western North Carolina into a disaster area.

But ‘normal’ is getting closer every day and should arrive just in time for the spring and summer surge in recreation.

Experts who spoke at the fourth annual Lake James Watershed Symposium on Wednesday said the reservoir should be safe for swimmers as the weather warms.

The speakers agreed the most substantial threat to those enjoying the lake this year is one that can usually be avoided by alert boaters. Although a tremendous amount of the debris that washed into the lake during the storm has been removed, enough remains to present a boating hazard.

More than 130 people packed into the Barn at the N.C. School of Science and Mathematics in Morganton to hear numerous presentations about the state of the Lake James Watershed, which spreads over 250,000 acres in Burke, McDowell, and Avery counties.

Joanne Deyo, president of Lake James Environmental Association, which sponsored the event along with Foothills Conservancy, Catawba Riverkeeper, NCSSM, and Duke Energy, said it was the best turnout in the symposium’s short history.

Numerous Lake James residents, dozens of volunteers, a smattering of county and city staffers, and a strong contingent of environmental scientists listened to and shared a torrent of information at the day-long meeting.

Most of the news about water quality was encouraging.

Pathogens are not present in dangerous quantities, and any contaminants have largely settled to the deepest parts of the lakebed where they’ll soon be covered by sediments, according to scientists.

That may be surprising to some. After all, Helene was an unprecedented weather event for the region.

The 101-year-old lake reached the highest point in its history during the hurricane, with 10 feet of water pouring over the spillway.

Boats and docks broke loose from their moorings and drifted away. Campers were set adrift by the rising water, and some eventually sank to the bottom. Tons of sediment and effluent washed in from tributaries.

The Bridgewater Hydropower station was flooded, and the power-producing turbines were heavily damaged. Both units recently came back online, and Duke Energy has been running them almost constantly to lower the lake to its seasonal target level.

Since Helene passed through, workers and volunteers have removed a mountain of debris from the lake. There is still plenty of it left, and the normally pristine water remains discolored and turbid in places.

Still, multiple speakers said nature has proven resilient.

Brandon Jones of Catawba Riverkeeper answered the audience’s most urgent question:

“As far as is it safe to swim — besides drowning — the next thing you need to worry about is fecal bacteria, a pathogen,” Jones said. “E. coli is the best indicator of that, so we test for that. The other concerns would be from harmful algal blooms, and we’re starting to examine those so we can have a positive/negative on that. We have additional resources, so we’ll be screening for those as well.”

As for other contaminants, Jones said there is no evidence — fish kills, for instance — that they’re a problem, and every day that passes reduces the likelihood they’ll be a factor in the future.

“Each day, it (contaminants) is getting buried more, and more, and more,” Jones said. “It will probably be a good idea to never dredge up the whole lake to try and remove that layer, which would only be dangerous if you tried to consume it.”

While swimmers seemingly have little to worry about, boaters should exercise more caution than normal.

Jeff Lineberger, Duke Energy’s director of hydro-strategy and licensing, was emphatic about that point.

“The immediate message is SLOW DOWN,” Lineberger said.

“The channels you may have used for navigation before in the Catawba arm — the places you maneuvered before to get all the way to the upper end of the lake — you may not be able to use that anymore. So, people need to slow down.”

Grant Buckner, northern basin director for Catawba Riverkeeper, seconded that statement.

“We’re advising people to be cautious and go slower as debris may continue to shift and areas of the lake may have changed depths,” Buckner said.

While some obstacles protrude from the water, others may be mired in silt, lurking just beneath the surface. Those are especially dangerous while the water is murkier than normal.

But that situation should be remedied soon.

Lake James, the first and cleanest lake on the 11-lake Catawba chain, is typically gin-clear, especially in the Linville River arm. But it has remained cloudy in places because of the enormous amount of suspended particulates stirred up by the flooding.

Some in the audience wondered why the water is still turbid.

Answers were quick and decisive.

“You have to keep in mind that the lake level until recently was high,” said Marshall Taylor, director of citizen science for LJEA. “We have a lot of exposed red clay banks, very fine particles that have been exposed to sunlight, weathered and so forth, so with the water level up it was easy to mobilize those and get them back into the water column.”

Buckner said water clarity should improve with both hydro units working and lake levels falling.

Taylor agreed.

“I believe as they bring the water level down, and things calm down, that we should see a significant decrease in turbidity, because the turbidity is not coming in from the streams,” Taylor said. “It’s in the lake, and most of that is being generated by the banks.”

NOTE: Taylor said LJEA tests the lake water and posts the results on its website (www.ljea.org) every Friday afternoon from Memorial Day to Labor Day as part of the nationwide Swim Guide Program. This year, LJEA will expand its testing to include tributaries.

In addition, Catawba Riverkeeper has a pollution- and debris-reporting app on its website. The LJEA encourages those who see debris on their fishing sonar units to report it. Those who observe visible debris can upload a photo and the app will automatically record the location.