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Leaf disposal
Posted on Feb 18th, 2023
No Leaf Dumping In The Lake!
As fall approaches and the deluge of leaves along with it, lakeside homeowners are often faced with the dilemma of what to do with all those leaves. Many simply blow leaf piles down to the shoreline and into the lake, but this is not a good practice, and can lead to losing lake access privileges. Yes, lake access is a privilege, and one that can be revoked. Although some may think it is silly to worry about any one home's impact on the lake, in reality it is the cumulative effect of everyone doing the same thing that adds up. Organic material such as leaves take a long time to decompose at the bottom of the lake where low oxygen levels slow down the decomposition. What decomposition does occur is actually more harmful to the atmosphere as bacteria convert the organic material into methane, a very damaging greenhouse gas. Aside from these concerns there is the quality of shoreline to consider as swimming in several inches of accumulated decomposing leaves (muck, as we call it) is unpleasant, as well as unsightly. It is not a violation of the Missouri Clean Water Law to dump leaves into the lake as a residential homeowner but businesses (commercial/industrial) can not. Ameren "discourages" homeowners regarding dumping leaves in the lake or burning along the shoreline, and can revoke lake access privileges for "chronic violators".
As fall approaches and the deluge of leaves along with it, lakeside homeowners are often faced with the dilemma of what to do with all those leaves. Many simply blow leaf piles down to the shoreline and into the lake, but this is not a good practice, and can lead to losing lake access privileges. Yes, lake access is a privilege, and one that can be revoked. Although some may think it is silly to worry about any one home's impact on the lake, in reality it is the cumulative effect of everyone doing the same thing that adds up. Organic material such as leaves take a long time to decompose at the bottom of the lake where low oxygen levels slow down the decomposition. What decomposition does occur is actually more harmful to the atmosphere as bacteria convert the organic material into methane, a very damaging greenhouse gas. Aside from these concerns there is the quality of shoreline to consider as swimming in several inches of accumulated decomposing leaves (muck, as we call it) is unpleasant, as well as unsightly. It is not a violation of the Missouri Clean Water Law to dump leaves into the lake as a residential homeowner but businesses (commercial/industrial) can not. Ameren "discourages" homeowners regarding dumping leaves in the lake or burning along the shoreline, and can revoke lake access privileges for "chronic violators".
--Source: Ozark Dragon
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