(Wahpeton)– An organization that promotes safety on the Iowa Great Lakes is calling on the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to replace 15 hazard navigation buoys with lighted ones. Both Big Spirit Lake and East Lake Okoboji have three of those buoys while West Lake Okoboji has nine.
Phil Petersen of the Iowa Great Lakes Water Safety Council says the request is based on a test they conducted in September and October in which a lighted buoy was placed in front of the Gull Point Lake Patrol station on West Lake Okoboji. He says it’s also based on research from other states and information from the Corps of Engineers and U-S Coast Guard.
Petersen says the buoys would contain a solar-powered flashing white L-E-D and are relatively inexpensive to purchase, operate and maintain.
Petersen says they hope to hear something back from the DNR soon. He says the goal would be able to retrofit the buoys with lights before they’re placed back in the water this coming spring.
