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Resident urges stronger protections for Payette Lake, calls for limits on wake boats and chemical uses
Summary
A resident told council data show widespread waterway impairment and urged the city and county to adopt measures including restricting wake boats near shore, banning certain lawn chemicals, increasing monitoring for PFAS and Didymo, and enforcing runoff controls from construction.
During the public comment period, resident David Gallipoli urged the council to take stronger action to protect Payette Lake and other waterways, citing local water-quality data and management plans.
Gallipoli said county and local plans indicate waterways in the region are significantly impaired and listed local groups and reports he said support stronger protections: the Valley County Waterways Management Plan, North Fork Payette River Coalition, Valley County Soil and Water, Friends of Lake Cascade, and the 2023 Payette Lake report. "Powerboats increase greenhouse gases, emissions, erode shorelines, destroy aquatic insects, native plant life, fish habitat, and increase milfoil blooms," Gallipoli said, and he urged limiting wake-boat operations nearshore.
He proposed near-term measures including restricting power of motorboats to certain days, increasing wake-boat buffer zones to 500 feet from shore (he noted some studies recommend 1,000 feet), banning certain lawn fertilizers and pesticides that contribute to runoff, limiting subdivision sprawl near waterways until impacts are better understood, and increasing monitoring for PFAS and Didymo. Gallipoli also described observed failures of construction sites to control runoff into waterways and said volunteers have worked to remove trash from the North Fork.
Council did not take action on those suggestions during this meeting; the remarks were part of the general public comment period and staff did not commit to rulemaking or regulatory changes on the record. Gallipoli concluded by asking officials why they would not "do everything we can to protect our sole source of drinking water," citing a 2020 presentation by a Dr. Wilhelm on Payette Lake.
