Many people want to grab a drink, board a boat, and spend time on the water with friends and family as the weather warms up.
At Lake Camanche, the situation is different this year.
“We’ve taken the precaution, a difficult one, to shut down our boat launches for this year as we try to get our arms around this and figure out the best way to prevent its introduction to East Bay MUD’s water system,” East Bay Municipal Utility District spokesperson Christopher Tritto stated.
The golden mussel, which was just identified in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Delta, is the cause.
The utility district is going one step farther with this ban: no kayaks, no paddleboards, and more, even though this alien species hasn’t reached the reservoir.
Only boats that have a permanent slip or that were in the water prior to the launches closing are permitted.
“It may be impossible and it can be very, very expensive to try to maintain, clean out pipes and pumps and things like that that we need to bring water to one and a half million people here in the East Bay,” Tritto stated.
Local businesses are suffering in an area where the lake attracts boatloads of tourists during the summer.
“Two hundred people will visit us on the weekend. It’s down to now, like 80-85 people in a day,” local business owner Muhammad Khan stated. “It’s affecting our business. We are even having a hard time to pay the bills.”
In order to protect residents and guests from its influence, an alcohol prohibition is added to the boat ban.
This extra ban is making it even more difficult for a convenience shop owner to make ends meet while trying to pay their rent.
“We are completely dependent on these four months for business,” Khan stated. “But now, even these four months are very slow for us, so we cannot even cover the basic expenses to keep the business running.”
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The utility district wants to inform people that there are still many ways to enjoy the lake and support local businesses, even though the choice was challenging.
“We have shoreline fishing, hiking, camping. There are boats for rent available that are safely in the water. A lot of things for families to come out and enjoy throughout the summer and the year. So we hope that you’ll still come out and find other ways to enjoy the water,” Tritto stated.
According to EBMUD, the boat prohibition will remain in place until the end of the year, while the alcohol ban will expire on September 30.
In the meanwhile, the district will reevaluate after additional research on these mussels is completed.
