In Pennsylvania lakes that meet a certain criteria must be registered with the PA DEP. Our 7.25 acre lake exceeds the DEPs threshold and is required to be registered. The registration of the lake would be similar to the registration of your car. You can’t drive a car in PA without having it registered. After you register you car, the state requires a yearly inspection than enforces certain safety standards. The registration of a lake is a very similar scenario.

Although the lake was built in 1972 and has never been registered, we are now required to have the lake registered. The first step of the registration has been completed. Our engineers submitted a 77 page document to the DEP showing exactly where the water would go if the breast of the dam would break wide open during flood conditions.

Although there is no big hurry to register the lake, I called the DEP yesterday to discuss the next step. During the conversation, the DEP representative told me that the Governor did not raise taxes but he is increasing all permit fees. He later emailed to inform us that the on February 2, the application fee to register the lake will likely jump from $1,500 to $6,500. Yesterday morning there was no big hurry to register the lake, but today it has become a top priority to get the application submitted before February 2. According to the email from the DEP we have two years (or more) to bring the lake into compliance with current regulations after they receive the application.

The picture of the lake was taken this morning. Although the snow melted this past weekend, we still have ice on the lake.