Lake Hopatcong Commission Speaks Out Against DEP's Outflow Plan

Lake Hopatcong Commission representatives voiced concern over two parts of the Department of Environmental Protection's 2011 Lake Hopatcong water-level management plan at Tuesday night's meeting at the Mount Arlington Municipal Building.

Sussex County representative Joel Servoss said the DEP's plan for a 12-cubic-foot  per second outflow was "way out of line" and that the process of shutting the dam once the lake drops a foot below normal levels must be streamlined. "You have to go through all these committees and bureaucracies," Servoss said. "We'll be down 2 feet before anyone comes and shuts the dam."

Chairman Russ Felter, Jefferson's mayor, echoed Servoss' sentiment on outflow.

"We all don't like the 12 CFS," he said.

Outflow rate and drawdown levels

"I don't like the 12 cubic-feet per second," Servoss said. "I think it should be half of that, at best."

Hopatcong representative Dan McCarthy said that while he agreed the outflow rate was "suspect," much of the plan sounded solid. McCarthy said he favored the plan's yearly 26-inch drawdown and 5-foot drawdown every five years.

"There's a lot of good here," McCarthy said. "We don't want to lose sight of that.

"I do think this 12 cubic feet thing is suspect and should be scrutinized. Studies need to be done. Should  it be 6 (cubic feet)? Should it be 12? Should it be 14? What should it be?"

Roxbury alternative representative Barbra Kinback also said the process of closing the dam when the lake level drops a foot needs fixing.

"You have to go through too much bureaucracy, and unfortunately that's what Trenton has become: a bureaucratic state," she said.