The AmerenUE shoreline management staff at Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks is conducting a survey of the shoreline to identify and document the location of docks that still have non-encapsulated foam flotation material. The survey is in preparation for the Dec. 31, 2008, deadline when all non-encapsulated foam flotation must be replaced with approved encapsulated floats.
AmerenUE Shoreline Management Supervisor Jeff Green says the project involves taking a digital photo of each dock that still has non-encapsulated foam, documenting the geographic location of the dock, and identifying the parcel of land where the dock is attached. The dock is then posted with a reminder to the owner of the Dec. 31 deadline. Green says he expects the lake-wide survey to be completed by the end of August.
“The project is going very well,” Green says. “We are finding 85 to 90 percent compliance in the lower, more-developed areas of the lake. This survey gives us an opportunity to remind dock owners who still need to replace their non-encapsulated foam. The information we gather through this process will also help us with follow-up and enforcement after the deadline occurs.”
Non-encapsulated foam flotation material that has broken away or has been discarded from boat docks is the largest source of man-made debris in the lake. Besides creating an eyesore, large chunks can also be a hazard to boat traffic. Adopt-the-Shoreline volunteers remove about 200 tons of the material from the lake’s shoreline each year.
AmerenUE regulates docks, seawalls and other structures on the shoreline under provisions of its federal license for the operation of Bagnell Dam and the Osage Power Plant, which created the Lake of the Ozarks in 1931.
AmerenUE banned any new installation of non-encapsulated foam in 1995, but to ease the impact on dock owners, the company did not require the immediate removal of existing foam if the flotation was still in good condition. Then, in 2003, AmerenUE set a final deadline for replacement of all non-encapsulated foam flotation by Dec. 31, 2008.
Dock owners can find more information about flotation requirements at the Lake of the Ozarks Web on the Ameren Web site at: http://www.ameren.com/LakeOzarks/ADC_Flotation.asp.
AmerenUE, a subsidiary of St. Louis-based Ameren Corporation, serves 1.2 million electric customers and 127,000 natural gas customers in a 24,000-square-mile area of north, central and eastern Missouri.
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CONTACT: Mike Cleary, 573.681.7137, of AmerenUE