Posted by Adam Quinan on February 02, 2000 at 02:01:58 from ip213-245.cc.interlog.com:
In Reply to: Coniston Water - water height posted by Gordon on February 01, 2000 at 23:19:41:
All the following is nothing to do with Ransome but its quite interesting to me and other aficionados of skullduggery!
Curiously enough, Lake Ontario which despite being the smallest Great lake, is a little larger than Coniston Water (about 250 miles long and fifty wide), is also suffering from low waterlevels, in this case someone almost literally pulled the plug. The waterlevel in the Great lakes is controlled by a joint US-Canadian commission which demands unanimity in its decision making. The actual mechanism is to regulate the flow through the locks and dams of the St Lawrence Seaway and river. A few years ago the lake level was quite high so the commission agreed to increase the water flow.
Now here is the conspiratorial part, apparently near Rochester NY there is a small but wealthy and influential group of landowners whose expensive houses are on low lying land close to the lake or a river. When the lake is at its mean level, their houses are a bit too close to the water for comfort. So they have nobbled one of the Joint Commissioners to vote against any attempt to reduce the water flow (unanimity remember). As a result of several dry winters and the increased waterflows, the rest of the lakeshore communities are suffering from excessively low levels of water leading to marinas being too shallow, freighters in danger of grounding on the shallower parts of the Seaway etc. etc.
Its not what you know its who you can nobble!