The Windsor Port Authority will not be putting a no wake zone in place along the Detroit River for the first time in almost two years.
Windsor Harbour Master Peter Berry says the water levels for 2021 are already down around 13 to 15 inches from last year.
A 30-meter shoreline ban was first put into place in July 2019 to try and reduce the damage to shoreline properties and infrastructure from the boat's waves, with the buffer zone ban extended to 60-meters in 2020 due to high water levels in the Detroit River, Lake St. Clair and Lake Erie.
While the water levels are lower, Berry says they are still historically high.
"We are above the mean average but our water levels are less this year," he says. "We haven't had a lot of rain, we haven't had a lot of snow over the winter, there for we look in a pretty good position that we would not have to put the no wake zone in place for the recreational vessels."
Berry says they were expecting the water levels to be at least at last year's level, so to have the water levels drop to that extent is very significant.
"It doesn't mean we're headed towards a drought at this point but it does mean that we are hopefully going to normalize at a level over the next couple of years and give property owners and municipalities with flooding a break," he adds.
After two years of record high water, the Great Lakes water levels are easing.
According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the lakes have dropped steadily since last fall and should remain below 2020 levels for at least the next six months.
With files from Rob Hindi and the Associated Press