KENT, Conn.—The selectmen will look at a draft ordinance banning wake surfing on Lake Waramaug when they convene for their regular monthly meeting, Wednesday, June 4.
The three towns surrounding the lake—Warren, Washington, and Kent—are all weighing imposing the ordinance.
Each town would have to hold hearings and town meetings for a public vote. Even though the amount of shoreline acreage varies in each town (Warren owns 82 percent, Washington 16 percent, and Kent only 2 percent), all three must agree to it for it to be enacted.
The issue has been a controversial one, with wake boating and surfing enthusiasts opposing restrictions and some property owners and environmentalists backing them.
“On June 4, we will look at what our fellow towns doing,” First Selectman Marty Lindenmayer said. “I know the towns would like to have this done before we get into summer. We may be able to have a hearing before the end of June.”
He said that the ordinance would prohibit surfing, but not the boats. “If there is any problem, it would be with the activity and not the boat itself,” he explained. “I personally don’t believe we can prohibit the boats. If the owners reduce the amount of ballast, they don’t create the deep wakes.”
Lake Waramaug, a once troubled and now pristine body of water, is a recreational gem for the residents of the three towns. But many are concerned that the growing use of wake boats will threaten both the health of the lake and the enjoyment of it by a portion of its residents.
Sean Hayden, executive director of the Lake Waramaug Task Force and advisor to the selectmen of the three towns, met with the Kent selectmen earlier this month to describe the findings of studies on the effects of wake boating.
He reported on a 2024 report by Terra Vigilis Environmental Services Group, an agency hired to assess the impact. Wake boats carry heavier ballast than other boats and create larger wakes that enable enthusiasts to surf. But the size of the wake can also cause shore erosion and down wash that stirs sediment and encourages the growth of bacterial blooms.
“Every morning before testing, everyone would game plan for the day,” Hayden said. “Terra Vigilis wanted to understand how waves propagate across the lake to the shore, so every clock was synchronized. They had a professional driver and a moderate size boat and did a number of passes. There were cameras at the surface and under water pointed at gauges. They could time the wave, so they knew how fast it was moving.”
Additionally, an underwater drone recorded what was going beneath the surface. The wave train was measured in two environments—shallow shoreline and a deep environment—as the boat passed the buoys. This allowed the researchers to observe the difference in wave size and speed. “As the waves came into the shallows, we could see how the sediment was entrained [lifted and carried within the water],” Hayden said.
Other tests measured the effects of down wash, which Hayden said can release phosphorous into the water. Water quality assessments had not been asked for in the report, but “we did a little water quality analysis in the shallow water to check phosphorous concentration. We found a rise, but it’s very preliminary,” he said.
Most of the phosphorous that gets into water column comes from sediment and that phosphorous is the main driver of bacteria blooms, he added. “We want to keep the lake at less than 20 parts per billion of phosphorous,” he observed. “Phosphorous is always an interesting nutrient to lake managers.”
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