A personal story from Earth Ministry Team member Helen Klimowicz:
In the summer I live in Central Wisconsin on Sunset Lake, Amherst Junction, Portage County, east of Stevens Point. For the last three years, water has been rising on this lake. It is now 6 feet above the historical high watermark. There are 17 homes on the lake; four of them year-round homes that have sandbags and tarps, one with a pump, in their front yards trying to keep water from their basements. One cottage is surrounded by water and another needed to build a septic system on higher ground. The value of these homes and land is depreciating. Large trees by the lakeshore are saturated with water and are falling. As the lake has no outlet and is fed by groundwater, I believe frequent heavy rains and warmer winters created these issues. Climate change is affecting Wisconsin’s hydrologic cycle and we expect more fluctuation in water levels in the coming years.
To read more about this common issue affecting the Midwest, read this Wisconsin Public Radio article. If you have your own photos to share, please post them on social media and include the hashtags #uuchurchwest and #uucwearthministry.
For more information about UUCW’s Earth Ministry Team, contact Chair Rob Zimmerman.
