Falling water levels trouble residents, raise pollution
By Lee Bergquist of the Journal Sentinel Scientists and property owners say they are worried about the long-term effects of a prolonged drought on fishing and water quality in northern Wisconsin as they’ve watched some lakes drop to their lowest point in 70 years. 
As people flock to the north this weekend, drought conditions also are evident in tinder-dry forests that experienced a surge in fires last week. … The main culprit: less rainfall over the last four years. But a University of Wisconsin-Madison scientist says the problem goes back much further than the last couple of years. Using statistical modeling, Chris Kucharik found that the northern quarter of the state has received 15% to 20% less rain from the decade of the 1950s to the decade ending in 2006. “This doesn’t even include the drought years after 2006,” said Kucharik, an assistant professor of agronomy and environmental sciences. “You continue to run a deficit of rain, and the response to the system is the lakes,” he said. Some lakes are at their lowest levels in seven decades. Those most affected are seepage lakes that rely on groundwater and runoff for recharging themselves instead of streams and rivers. On Anvil Lake in Vilas County, one of the few lakes that have been continuously monitored, the water level is down 7.2 feet – the lowest since 1943. In Marathon County, the falling water level is a factor in a massive fish kill in March on the Big Eau Pleine reservoir. …
Droughts drain northern lakes
