Lake Isabel Water Conditions | Video

Jessica Roose | 6/22/2012

It`s nice to have lakeside property at this time of year. Unless, of course, the lake is too disgusting to swim in. That`s how some describe conditions at Lake Isabel near Dawson. One owner of property down at the lake says the water conditions have been deteriorating over the last decade and something needs to be done to before it`s too late.

Sharon Tschider and her late husband built their property at Lake Isabel almost 50 years ago.

"We hand-built our cabin and we built it for our kids and grandkids, so that they could enjoy the beautiful outdoors and the water and swimming in the lake. For years it was just absolutely a marvelous place. Now we have some problems in the water."

"Me and my cousins, we`re swimming in the water and we were about in there for 10-15 minutes and then we came out and went in the hot tub and we started to itch and it was like little red bumps," said her grandson Talon.

Tschider says she was told the rash was from a parasite in the water.

The State Health Department says it was likely swimmers itch, which is caused by an organism that lives in many bodies of water.

A scoop with the net shows just what`s in the water. Tschider says it`s a problem that could be solved if everyone on the lake comes together.

"Buy soap that doesn`t have phosphate, buy dishwasher soap if you have a dishwasher. I don`t approve of garbage disposals out here. Where`s it going to go? And some of the newer homes have garbage disposals and dishwashers. I raised my dishwashers."

Tschider`s grandkids weren`t the only ones to break out with the rash last weekend. Kids over at Camp Grassick got it as well.

"Most of them that were in there had some sort of bites on their legs or arms and again some have it a little worse than others," said Dan Mimnaugh

He says even though it`s annoying, it`s not ruining the fun for campers at the lake. They are just taking extra precautions when kids get out of the water.

Tschider says her main concern is that there is no governing board at the lake. She feels that without one they have no way to get the lake problems solved. She believes the problems at the lake could be coming from old septic tanks in many of the lakefront properties.

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