Would you agree with the Cause and Effect premise of this statement?

[Wookie]

Quote comes from a study commissioned by the Lake Travis Coalition.

Follow the link to the full report.

And thanks, all, for your candid comments and responses.

No doubt, the study was commissioned with Gubmint dollars. Federal gubmint, state gubmint, you pick.

 

[ianr33]

My super cool new jt is here complete with edd's custom bungee setup. I can't wait to test it out in the crappy viz of lake travis.

JT->JB :d

 

[cavemn]

JT->JB :d

+PredatorX2

 

[cruiser]

No doubt, the study was commissioned with Gubmint dollars. Federal gubmint, state gubmint, you pick.

And it looks like someone is after gubmint $$$$.

 

[driftwood]

True. They are trying to tie a "decline" in water quality to a decline in economic activity. If you throw enough mud at a wall, some of it may stick. They are angling for either a government grant or a justification for increased regulation (or both).

 

[scubafanatic]

I would venture that the quality of the economy has much more to do with the number of divers/dive shops than the quality of the water.

For example, the water quality and reef diving has not deteriorated significantly in the Bahamas over the last five years, but the number of dive shops (and resorts, and restaurants, and retail stores...you get the picture) operating there has DEFINITELY shrunk drastically in that same span of time. I think it's pretty much the same cause/effect relationship everywhere.

I agree that it's the economic decline that's the primary factor in the reduction in dive shops numbers, but I will also add I've done 2 one-week Bahamas liveaboards in the last few years (JULIET and the Explorer boat) and noticed a massive decline in fish numbers between my 08/04 trip and my 06/07 trips.....1st trip 'OK' fish populations....2nd trip fish were essentailly extinct !!! The reefs still looked pretty good, but the critters were all gone...it was spooky and a terrifying sign of where the oceans (and the tourist scuba industry) are headed....

 

[Timeliner]

ibj40 ~ this is just a silly question to form a post around. You must be the person that was the basis of another post...

The guy left behind on a charter.

Now tell me .. how can a true Swamper question any body of liquid and speak in terms of " water quality " ?

 

[ibj40]

ibj40 ~ this is just a silly question to form a post around. You must be the person that was the basis of another post...

The guy left behind on a charter.

Now tell me .. how can a true Swamper question any body of liquid and speak in terms of " water quality " ?

My point exactly. Reservoirs, by their nature, intent, and design, have fluctuations in level (quantity) and quality. Consider their primary re-filling source, which is usually floods (with suspended solids from erosion, etc.).

Why do we think there is such a thick layer of silt on the bottom of most (all?) of our lakes? Because it was sediment suspended in the water column first!

It is truly tragic that dependent economies develop around features that are designed to fluctuate (while serving their originally intended purpose), and then arise in righteous indignation when the feature (in this case, a reservoir) is put to it's originally intended use (by those who paid for it to be constructed in the first place).

And then you have the statement that I started this thread with, indicating that the practice of putting the lake through it's paces has caused at least one industry (diving) to suffer significant impairment.

Maybe I'm biased, working in the water industry, but sometimes I guess I just don't understand what people would prefer. When they get up in the morning and turn on the lights (heavily dependent upon water) and brush their teeth (clearly dependent on water), do they also assume that they should also expect a sunrise view of a constantly full reservoir?

It's a zero sum game, water is consumed to sustain the economy in a holistic manner, localized selfishness (in this case tying economic factors to reservoir levels), regardless of its bias, means that I should benefit while others may suffer.

It just doesn't work that way.

 

[richerso]

Well since we are discussing theories of cause and effect -- I have my own:

"The decline in dive shops / dive shop business is inversely related to the increase in traffic on I-35. As an example, I cite that traffic on I-35 was less congested in 1994 than it is now; hence because traffic has increased, dive shop business has decreased.

I could also write a theory around gasoline prices, new lawn mower prices, taco prices, or levels of CO2 in the atmosphere.

 

[Grungo]

Bet you could do a good cause and effect paper on 'the rise of the internet dive shop has affected local dive business'.

This has got to be a huge part of it, with a small part being the economy. In 1993, there was no great alternative to buying your equipment at a local dive shop. (I mean, how many people were getting decked with out with SCUBA gear from a mail catalog?) Now you can order easily off the Internet.