Don Brown says he's losing his lake.

 

     He's called called Lake Geneva home for 13 years and he says when he first built his house he could get a boat in at the end of this dock. But that boat is idle now, as he questions why the water is the lowest its ever been since he's lived here. 

      "Its easier to blame it on drought... but theres a lot of people who have moved into the area and they have wells and that also takes away water. Its been a combination of things." 

       Its a combination that Mayor Mary Lou Hildreth says cannot just be blamed on drought.

      "This is something else because we've had droughts before and its never, ever been like this."

      She says its shocking and that's why she was out supporting an approved pilot program that would test the water levels of the lake and determine a solution to raise these levels.
     Hildreth says too many consumptive use permits are being given to residents and businesses...like the many sand companies in the area.
     This takes water from a town that makes its living off its lakes.

    "Theres no water and so my businesses are hurting, our economy is hurting, property values are hurting.

     She suggests putting the water pumped out back into the aquifer so that the water levels will rise.

    So brown continues to wait on the water that drew him to the Keystone area thirty years ago, as he hopes to once again use the dock thats become sort of a running joke in his family.