The water level of the lake is lower than anyone can remember. “I do not recall anything like this in my lifetime and I have lived here my whole life,” Brumagin said.

Brumagin said people are very concerned about the low water levels. “They want to know what can be done to keep this from happening again,” she said. “People are anxious to get on the lake.”

The biggest problem with the low water levels, Brumagin said, is the danger of submerged stumps. “When the lake is low, it’s dangerous if boaters don’t know where the stumps are or if they are not being careful,” she said.

The other big problem is that there are large patches of weeds in the lake, which grew rapidly this year. Because of the low water levels, the weed harvester had to be put in the water with a crane, and it did not get into the lake until the last day of June.

The waterwheel at the spillway in Findley Lake remains immobile due to low water levels.

Brumagin said there are all sorts of stories going around about why the lake is so low. However, she said, the truth is that the water tables are down along coupled with a very dry spring. “This is not just a one-year event,” Brumagin said. “The tables have been going down over the last few years.”

Sherri Hamilton, who with her husband Jack, owns Findley Lake Marine, agrees with Brumagin about the cause of the low water level.

“I think everybody is looking for a finger to point,” she said. “People come in on the sly and say, ‘What is really going on?’ but everything happened this year as it was intended to happen.”

Ed Mulkearn, president of the Findley Lake Watershed Foundation, reiterated this statement in his letter to members. “There are many rumors circulating regarding possible causes for the abnormally low lake level. We can assure you that we did nothing different last year than in previous years,” he said.

Mulkearn rebutted some of the prevalent rumors that have been circulating.. “The lake was not lowered more last year than in previous years,” he said. “The dam was closed as soon as the lake was free of ice. There are no structural issues with the dam causing water to pass through when closed. There is no beaver dam blocking water flow into the lake.”

Hamilton said the low water level has caused a great deal of trouble for the marina. They store more than 180 boats during the winter that they are then responsible for putting in Findley Lake.

“Generally, we have nearly all the boats back in the water for Memorial Day,” Hamilton said. “However, as of (July 1), we do not even have 36 boats in the water.”

Hamilton said the lake is a foot to 14-inches below the normal summer level, and the danger of putting boats in the water this year is two-fold: scraping the bottoms of the boats and having the boats get damaged on the docks.

“Launching is not the biggest problem. The individual docks are the biggest issue,” she said. “People are having to get extremely creative with their docking situations.”

Hamilton said the low water level has been “a huge imposition on everyone.” It has also adversely affected Findley Lake Marine. “Typically, Memorial Day is our big kickoff, and we have lots of gas customers,” she said. “Our first gas customer, by water, was only two weeks ago.”

Hamilton also noted that the weeds are out of control. “People are having trouble navigating,” she said. “The weed harvester just got in, but they are really limited, as far as their functionality.”