Electricity, ESD, and Your Dock

According to a 2014 CDC report, an average of 3,536 people per year die from accidental drowning unrelated to boating  This is basically an accounting of people drowning just swimming in the water and there are many reasons such tragedies occur but one contributing factor is electrocution, or Electric Shock Drowning (ESD). Just how many of these non-boating related drownings can be attributed to electrocution while in the water is harder to know since ESD statistics are not as carefully documented, but we do know it happens and sadly the Lake of the Ozarks has had its share. Homeowners need to start taking action now to prevent their docks from being a danger to themselves, their families and their neighbors. Making sure your dock is as safe as possible is not only a responsibility, it may soon become mandatory.

Is ESD a new phenomenon, or does it just seem to be happening more often? Electric service on docks is nothing new, but it has become far more commonplace. The need for boat lifts, and the general trend to make living space on our docks has meant more and more power is being delivered over the water. On the other hand, our interconnected world and social media has made awareness of these types of tragedies more prevalent. These two factors, I believe, have both raised the risk and the awareness.

Can we eliminate the risk of ESD? Sure, by mandating that there can be no electrical service on docks. Period. Sound good? Believe it or not there are those that advocate such measures, namely the ESD Prevention Association which believes that docks and marinas should not have electricity and promote awareness to not swim anywhere near ones that do. Others suggest a less radical but inconvenient idea of turning off power to the dock before swimming near it. The main problem with this idea is that it relies on the most unreliable safety feature in any given system, a human being. The idea of eliminating electricity from docks altogether is a simple foolproof idea, but unrealistic for the Lake of the Ozarks. We need power on our docks.

Homeowners on Lake of the Ozarks need electricity for a variety of reasons, not the least of which being boat lifts, marine shore power connections, and lawn irrigation pumps, and they are the most demanding in terms of power requirements. Shore power connections for larger boats typically run 30 amps. irrigation pumps can require 3-10 amps depending on their voltage and pumping capacity, and boat lift air pumps operate in the 1-3 amp range. Along with a smattering of lights, fans, convenience outlets and the occasional small refrigerator, docks typically have anywhere from 30-50 amp services with 100 amps not being out of the question. For a typical 200 amp home service, the boat dock can often represent a significant portion of power consumption. When you consider it only takes about ten milliamps (10/1000 of an amp) to constrict your muscles and only a few dozen to stop your heart, the typical dock circuit carries enough current to kill many thousands of times over. While not all docks have electrical service, blue light requirement not withstanding, the vast majority do. If you do have electrical service on your dock, get it right, or abandon it altogether. The risk of faulty electrical service is high, and your responsibilities are clear.

Any dock installations (old or new) with electrical service are required to pass an inspection, and if you're selling your lake home you can bet the new owners will insist on one, but it won't be long before ALL docks, regardless of age will also need to be inspected and approved. If you want to keep electricity on your dock, you had better get it up to code.

How do you do get your dock up to code? The key word here is "code", and it comes from something called the National Electrical Code (its formal name is NFPA 70), written by the National Fire Protection Association, which is rather odd sounding source I know, but trust me it's been around for decades. The book is huge as one might expect and surprisingly readable, if you're into such things, but suffice to say your average handy-man is not going to be familiar with it and it is very detailed when it comes to safety requirements for electrical power and marine installation. In short, if you want to get your dock up to code, your likely going to need a professional. Of course, just about any electrician with a sign on their truck is going to tell you that they can wire your dock correctly, and many can, there's nothing special about the requirements, but you will want to have it inspected to make sure its right and in most cases an inspection is required. Oh sure, you can hire anyone you like, even do it yourself if you wish, but when the fire department comes out to inspect it and tells you it's wrong and you have to rip out hundreds of dollars of wiring and start over don't say I didn't warn you. I'm an electrical engineer, and trust me, they don't teach NFPA70 wiring specifications for docks in engineering classes. I paid to have it done just like many people do. It isn't cheap either. Depending on the services you need, the size of the dock, and a hundred other variables, your cost can be several thousands of dollars, but considering what it could cost you in lives and lawsuits, just think of it as another necessary expense. No one said living on the lake would be cheap.

Here is a PDF from Ameren that can tell you what will be expected of your installation. It is not intended to be checklist, but it will give you a very good idea of what you're in for. Also, in 2019 a small group of local electrical contractors started the "Lake Ozark Association of Electrical Contractors" in an effort distinguish those contractors committed to safety, but it is a voluntary membership trying to address the fact that Missouri has no state licensing requirements for electricians (not the smartest piece of deregulation in my opinion but I'm just an electrical engineer so what do I know) which creates some trust issues for consumers. Just remember when choosing a contractor, the only thing worse than no safety equipment is badly installed safety equipment.

Update: I've been asked about those "Life Alert" devices that you can add to a dock that detects the presence of electricity in the water. Are they effective? Are they necessary? On the issue of effectiveness, they do work, but they will drive you nuts. They are designed to detect very small amounts of voltage or current (amps) in the water and believe it or not, it happens naturally. Small electrical currents are created by a variety of natural processes. The amount of energy created is very small and harmless but your dock sensor will pick up on them and alert you. Part of the problem with any safety device is "alert fatigue". If you're constantly being bombarded by false alerts, you may not pay serious attention to one that is real. Hats off to the two engineers who came up with the idea, but it is fallible, and can easily lure you into a sense of safety that may not be justified.

Are these devices necessary? Not really. If you're dock is wired correctly, and periodically inspected (docks move and connections fail), the safety features of the circuit itself will protect you from harm. However, if you feel better having a dock alert system than by all means install one. Just be aware that if your lake home is a weekend destination, you will probably want to shut power off at your dock when you leave to avoid driving your neighbors insane with alarms going off all week while you're gone. Ask me how I know. :)

June 2018 Lake Levels and Flow Rates

Late on the post for June levels, but it's summer after all. Lake levels are where they should be and behaving predictably. Nothing notable to see and that's a good thing. Keep in mind the narrow range of data makes for an exaggerated graph scale. In reality, the difference all month long in lake levels is little more than 1 foot.

May 2018 Lake Levels and Flow Rates

It's summertime so there's rarely anything interesting for the charts. A minor exception this year is that we started the month well below the expected average but managed to get levels normalized by Memorial weekend to kick things off.

New Wake Restrictions Awaiting Governor's Signature

June 4th, 2018 Update: This bill was one of the 77 signed by the outgoing Governor on Friday June 1st. 

I've been holding off on a post about the new "Wake restrictions" bill that passed this year and is reportedly awaiting the Governor's signature.  I've been waiting because things are not exactly going to plan in Missouri politics of late. While the Missouri House and Senate have settled on legislation, there's the little problem of actually signing them into law.  Protocol follows that first, the Speaker of the House, and Senate Pro Tem must sign these bills before sending them to the Governor. As of yesterday they had not, but this is not completely unusual for this time of year. Typically the leaders of both houses sign bills at the end of May as a formality before going to the governor for final approval.  Is there anything going on in Missouri politics that might throw a wrench in the usual process? No matter the debacle going on with the Missouri leadership these days, or the Governor's ultimate fate, the likelihood that these bill will get signed means it's time to take a look at the HB2116, which could dramatically affect boating on the Lake of the Ozarks.

What started as House Bill 1591 had ended up passing as HB 2116 which was originally an attempt to change what type of vessels can be exempted from railing requirements for passengers riding on the gunwale (upper edge of the side of a boat).  Basically it exempts sailboats and jet driven vessels (read:PWC's) from railing requirements, which is good since PWC's have no railings. The language from HB1591 was added to HB2116 in order to improve the odds of passing.

Assuming it is signed into law, what does it really mean?

HB2116 replaces the language in Missouri Revised Statutes sections 306.100, 306.125 and 306.126 with new language regarding watercraft in Missouri. Note - A statute is a basically a law, or policy.

There are primarily three changes to the statutes. The first being the aforementioned railing change. Secondly, it changes the penalty for the lack of proper Personal Flotation Devices and creating a wake within 100 feet of a floating structure (dock).

Section 306.100:  I'll avoid the exact language of the first change because it's fairly straightforward. If you're caught without proper Coast Guard approved PFD's (life jackets) in your boat, you're going to get a $25 fine no matter the size of the boat. This seems like a very small penalty for a serious safety issue, but the current penalty of a misdemeanor has been considered too onerous to enforce.  The thinking here is that a small fine will make the rule more enforceable (and certainly won't hurt the coffers of the Water Patrol - wink wink), and you can rest assured, that there will be safety campaigns aplenty on the water this year. There will little mercy for non-compliance since Water Patrol has been looking for this type of change to the law for a long time. Check to be sure you have *all* the required safety equipment for your boat. Furthermore.

Section 306.125:  The bill would maintain the 100 foot distance no-wake restriction from all docks but the penalty would be a $25 fine. There was a proposed 300 foot restriction but that was revised back to 100 feet. Again, a relatively small fine, given the potential damage to property such wakes can make, but one that theoretically makes the rule more enforceable. What's more interesting is that the fine can go to the boat owner, and not just the operator.

"...if the operator cannot be identified, the owner of the watercraft shall be subject to such penalty."

Aside from the obvious, I think this implies that if I take a picture of your boat making a wake within 100 feet of my dock, and I can capture your boat number or port registered name in the image,  you, the boat owner, get the ticket. Of course, the homeowner would have to file a complaint with the Water Patrol, but that is easy enough, and one wonders if some sort of online complaint process might be created. We'll see if I'm right in the coming months as folks will invariably violate the law, and homeowners will invariably document it.

The fines for both PFDs and no-wake infractions are just that, citations that do not require court costs.  Pay the fine, and your done.

But now we get to the real meat and potatoes of HB2116 regarding boat wakes. Section 306.125 continues on to expand which coves can be designated as completely no-wake, and what class of vessel is subject to the rule.

The department of public safety shall promulgate all necessary rules and regulations for the  implementation and administration of a no wake cove for class 3 vessels in a cove with its main juncture less than 800 feet, measured from shore to shore, at the main channel.

A class III vessel is any boat 40 feet or larger in length, which means smaller boats would not be subject to this rule should the majority of homeowners in the cove choose to have it designated as no-wake. I actually think this is a fair rule and one both boat owners and homeowners can support. But let's take a look at just how many coves might be affected.

We've been here before when trying to restrict wakes, but the first attempt was to restrict all coves with a juncture to the main channel of less than 1250 feet, regardless of homeowner sentiment, and for vessels of any size. This would have effectively rendered the entire lake a no-wake zone with the exception of the main channel since there are very few coves with a mouth over 1250' on the lake.  Thankfully this idea went nowhere, but allowing coves of 800 feet or less the option to be no-wake is a game changer, at least for big boats. How many coves are 800 feet or smaller at juncture is a question I leave open(for now), but my estimation is that it's probably the majority of them. It will take time for 75% of the homeowners in any cove to band together to make theirs no-wake zones, but I think it is likely if large boat owners continue to kick up wakes in their coves like they have been for the past few years. It may take a few years, but ultimately, for 40+ foot boats, the main channel will become their only option to run at speed.

The end result of this process, could be less damage to docks and structure within coves, but the unintended consequence will be a main channel that is even rougher than it is today.  For those homeowners and condominiums with docks on the main channel, the challenge of keeping them is only going to get worse. It is also likely we'll see an increase in barrier protections along the main channel which will further constrict vessel operating areas. And what do we do with coves whose mouth is exposed to the main channel? One can easily see a time when breaker barriers will be in front of every cove.

The other possibility is the proliferation of boats 40 feet or longer will plummet. This scenario is something the Marine Dealers Association is keenly aware of and concerned about.

Will this work? Who knows, but it was inevitable that Missouri legislators would get involved and do something.  Time will tell.

Lake Levels Stay Near Year Lows Despite the Rains

As I look out on the lake every morning I'm still a little surprised as to how low the level remains for for this time of year.  By my record keeping, the five year moving average lake level for this date (indicated in orange in the chart), March 28th is 655.36 feet, more than a foot higher than it is today.  So what gives?

Obviously the threat of flooding is on Ameren's mind and from the chart below, which is an incomplete graph for this month, they are adjusting flow (in green) through the dam in direct response to rising lake levels. It's a clear attempt to keep lake levels where they are in what appears to be a purely reactionary response to the rains as they come. Ongoing repairs to the dam may be the prime mover here since there's really no other reason to keep levels this low now.

Lake Draw Down 2018 - Are We There Yet? Final Update

March 15th -. I could easily be jumping the gun here, but I'm going  to go out on a limb and say we hit the draw down peak yesterday around 9am with a low of 654.30.  With discharge flow dropping below 4,000cfs it appears Ameren is content to let whatever rain occurs in the next 72 hours to accumulate and mild temperatures means there's no real demand for power generation. With all that in mind, and given we are nearly two weeks past the average peak low date, I'm pretty confident lake levels will begin the slow and steady rise toward spring numbers.

Below is the 9 year chart of lake levels for the period January-April. Yes, I know It's only March 15th and things could change, but I was kind of anxious to get this post done. No, that's no glitch in the data on the far right. The lake rose over four feet in about 36 hours last year.

Update = I've got a jump on the chart for March here

The chart, with nine years of data it's getting difficult to keep neat. Here's how to read it. The current levels for this year are in red, while the nine year average is in bold green.  The previous years are in various shades of grey starting with black for last year fading with each successive year further back in time.

March 22nd update below - yep, I called it. Lake levels are rising from the low of 654.3 on 3/14.

March 27th update below - Nope. I didn't call it.  Lake levels have dropped since the last update to it's lowest level of the year, 653.91 at 8am this morning. It's come up slightly since then but I won't venture to think we've hit the low.  I swear, sometimes I think Ameren reads this blog and adjusts levels just to prove me wrong.  ;-) As you can see, we're just about to match the latest date for reaching low level in the past 9 years which happened March 31st, 2011.

Final Update: Given the low levels late in the year for 2018 I decided just to wait until May 1st before a final update. The maximum drawdown level for 2018 came on March 27th at 653.91. A very typical peak low level.  Nine year data average for date and level is now March 11th, at an average level of 654.82.

Below is a simple graph of just 9 year hourly levels average. (= Green graph above)

February 2018 Lake Levels and Flow Rates

Ameren announced in early February that the low level draw down would probably occur on February 19th.  Looking at the chart above would seem to confirm they hit their target at just under 655', but I wouldn't count on the draw down being over  just yet. As you can see the recent rains elevated the lake by nearly a foot and half and power generation (green spikes) has already begun bringing levels back down. Typically early March (see the orange 5 year average line) is when the lowest levels are reached and the spring rains haven't begun in earnest so it is possible they will draw the lake back down toward the 655' mark.