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on EWM and CLP, enabling native species from being drown out. Incidentally, our position on aquatic treatment does not mean the LOA is against shoreline restoration programs. To the contrary this is why we brought in a guest speaker and professional restoration expert from Ramsey Conservation at our annual meeting last May to demonstrate the benefits of shoreline restoration. Of course some resident are adapting shoreline restoration on their own. However, by exposing additional residents to shoreline restoration concepts, perhaps others will follow suit. In addition, Lake Owasso has a very healthy off shore aquatic plant community at the south end of the lake. If scientific evidence is presented that indicates that water quality is compromised on Lake Owasso due to treatment activities, this of course would need to be considered in future treatment programs. Rather, all the DNR's efforts thus far are arbitrary. "Dead Zone" During the July 27th meeting the phrase "dead zone" was used various times as though it was common knowledge. The way the phrase was casually used, I got the impression that it has also been commonly used at previous meetings. There are three sand bars in Lake Owasso. I am familiar with all three by way of walking and snorkeling. When you snorkel or look from the surface one can tell there has never been aquatic plants on these sand bar areas as the geology simply does not permit it. A11 three have hard sand bottoms intermixed with medium sized rocks. The area you are calling a dead zone is a natural sand. bar. Unless you have evidence that the sample point you are referring to with no aquatic plants use to have aquatic plants, you should not be painting a negative picture. It is inaccurate if not misleading to characterize an area a "dead zone" when it is a natural phenomenon, i.e., sand bar. Labeling a sand bar with no aquatic plants as a dead zone is at best a poor choice or words; at worst a deliberate mischaracterization of an area to push an agenda. If this characterization were in reference to people, it would be called character assassination. If an area is a natural sand bar, let's call it a sand bar, not a dead zone. September 2005 Aquatic Plant Survey In the September 2005 Aquatic Plant Study by the RWMWD, a comparison of aquatic plants is made between Lake Owasso and other nearby lakes. It does not make sense to compare Lake Owasso with lakes of a different lake bed. What makes sense is to compare Lake Owasso to Lake Owasso across many years. If there is desire to compare the aquatic plant community of Lake Owasso to that of another lake, why not compare it to Turtle Lake which has a lot of natural sand bar areas? The very same point intercept methodology performed in May would yield altogether different results than the study performed in September 2005. Some of the sampling points in the 2005 study were from areas where the water depth is 25', where you would not expect to find aquatic plants. Lease vs. Purchase With regard to purchasing vs. leasing equipment for water quality sampling, I think a critical point was missed. The discussion was solely focused on lease vs. buy. Such a discussion would be more comprehensive if you asked "who is going to run the equipment"? Are City officials going to run the equipment? Are such individuals qualified to do so? Will individuals earmarked to run the equipment have objection to running the equipment, i.e. will they have time? I have seen too often where 3