Here is a summary of the Drummond Township Wake Boat Ordinance passed by the Town of Drummond on August 14, 2024:

a) No person may use or employ ballast tanks, ballast bags, fins, or similar devices to cause a boat to operate in a bow-high manner, or which increases or enhances a boat’s wake.

b) No person may operate a boat in an artificially bow-high manner having the effect of increasing the boat’s wake. Such prohibited operation shall include wake enhancement by use of ballast tanks, ballast bags, mechanical fins, continuous operation at transition speed (the speed below planing speed in which a boat is operating in plowing mode), or similar devices and/or methods.

c) In no event shall the following operations be deemed a violation of this Ordinance, provided such operations do not use or employ ballast tanks, ballast bags, wake enhancing fins, or other similar devices and/or methods: i) water skiing, ii) tubing, iii) wake boarding employing a tow rope; iv) brief transition operation to empty a boat of water, or v) brief transition operation of a boat accelerating into a planing condition.

d) Certain Operations Permitted. Notwithstanding paragraphs (a) and (b) above, this ordinance shall not prohibit any activity conducted on Lake Owen where the following two conditions are both satisfied at all times for activities otherwise within the scope of paragraphs (a) and (b) above: i) the activity is conducted at all times at least 600 feet from the nearest shoreline including island shoreline; and ii) the activity is conducted at all times in water no less than 20 feet deep.

e) Ballasted Boats Used On Other Waterbodies Before Use On Lake 3 Owen. No one may use on Lake Owen within the scope of Section 2(d) above any boat containing any ballast tank or ballast bag if such boat has been used previously during the calendar year on any waterbody other than Lake Owen, unless and until each such ballast tank and ballast bag has first been fully decontaminated by thermal or chemical means, and in compliance with the following: i. Such decontamination shall have been conducted by a professional boat service facility providing ballast tank decontamination services. ii. A copy of a dated and signed written certificate shall be maintained on the boat at all times while on Lake Owen, confirming such decontamination, the manner of decontamination, the identification of the boat bearing the decontaminated tanks, and/or bags, and the name and phone number of the entity providing such decontamination services. iii. Any individual authorized to enforce this ordinance may request anyone operating the boat to produce this written certificate for inspection when the boat is at a public landing or when the boat is operating on Lake Owen with any ballast tank or ballast sack deployed, with the boat operating in an artificially bow high manner. iv. Any individual providing “Clean Boat, Clean Water” inspections at a public landing on Lake Owen may request anyone launching or removing a boat from Lake Owen having a ballast tank or ballast bag, to produce the written certificate for inspection.

Any person violating this Ordinance shall forfeit $500 for the first offense and shall forfeit $1000 for each subsequent offense within one year.

A full copy of the ordinance can be read at:https://lakeowen.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/2024-Drummond-Wake-Ordinance-for-Lake-Owen.pdf