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Two groups on opposite sides of the Tippecanoe Lake sewer proposal three years ago are working together today for a cleaner lake tomorrow.
Tippecanoe Environmental Lake and Watershed Foundation has been meeting for nearly a year, and Saturday will present plans to the public for three projects aimed at improving the lake's water quality.
The meeting starts at 9 a.m. at the North Webster Community Building. The public is invited.
What the public is likely to see is a cohesive group that has left behind any animosity between Lake Tippecanoe Property Owners Association and a group known as Clear Choice, which opposed sewer plans.
Efforts to construct sewers began in 1995 but died about one year later after opposition from Clear Choice arose.
The foundation includes members and leaders from both organizations, said Holly LaSalle, one of the foundation's directors.
She said she's not surprised the groups have put aside their differences.
"We have the strong desire to see our lakes go on and not have this accelerated dying," LaSalle said.
Sewers are not part of the discussion.
"The only thing we are going to address is watershed improvement," she said.
The foundation was formed last July and is participating in the state's T-By-2000, an attempt to improve the water quality in lakes. A study has already been completed and design work has begun for three projects at inlets on the lake's north side.
The inlets include Indian Creek, Hannah B. Walker Ditch and Kuhn Ditch. Projects would entail a storm water detention basin at Indiana Creek and wetlands and sediment traps at the other two inlets.
"It won't be a total solution to our problems, but it's a big start," LaSalle said.
J.F. New and Associates, Walkerton, are contracted as the environmental consultants, and a spokesman for the firm will review plans at Saturday's meeting.
The lake is participating in Indiana University's volunteer water monitoring program. Based on the monitoring, the lake has a poor rating because of high levels of nutrient and sedimentation and overuse of the lake, LaSalle said.
The foundation hopes to reduce the influx of nutrient load into the lake by 20 percent. If that goal is achieved, it would help maintain the current quality level, she said.
The foundation produced a video used for educational purposes.
T-By-2000 is a cost share program. The first two phases included 90 percent state funding. The lake association paid the local portion of the first phase and the foundation is covering the local portion of the second phase, LaSalle said.
A major fund-raising effort will gear up soon to raise an estimated $200,000 needed for local share of the construction costs, LaSalle said.
The foundation president is Bob Smith. LaSalle is former president of the lake association.
