Docks sit high and dry, and in some places, 100 feet from the water.

Marina owner are having to dredge slips every year and cottage owners suddenly find themselves mowing lawns that used to be lake bottom.

And all along Georgian Bay the haunting call of the loon is being replaced with exasperated cries from humans asking: Where has all the water gone?

Water levels in some parts of Georgian Bay and The Great Lakes are down by as much as 4 1/2 half feet then they were just five years ago, and 3 feet lower then they were 80 years ago.

The shrinking water levels have had a devastating effect on wetlands in the region. But just why the water has gone missing is not entirely clear says Karl Schiefer a senior aquatic biologist and lifelong Georgian Bay resident.

"There are two schools of thought,"said the former University of Waterloo professor and consultant to the Georgian Bay Association. "One it that this is just a natural fluctuation of the water levels, or the historical information is no longer valid due to climate warming."

Only time will tell which of those scenarios, is the right one, Schiefer said.

"As we release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, the greenhouse effect, change precipitation patterns, we're going to have hotter summers, warmer winters, less ice cover, more evaporation," Schiefer said. " All of these factors combined are gong to lower the level of the Great Lakes. "

Warmer summers have increased the loss of water through evaporation leaving levels on some of the Great Lakes the lowest the lowest they've been in 100 years.

Warmer winters are also taking their toll on the world's biggest reservoir of fresh water because of the reduced snow cover.

"Wetlands are disappearing at an alarming rate, and the ecological, and economic impact of this tragedy is huge and will be felt for years," said Schiefer, a cottage owner on Georgian Bay for more than 35 years.

As the wetlands dry up, they turn to mudflats and grass meadows. Forest vegetation such as birch and pine take hold where fish and ducks once roamed.

"The small mouth bass, the Muskie, the Northern Pike, the water fowl, shorebirds, reptiles, amphibians, all depend on that this critical habitat," said Schiefer adding that some species may be lost forever.

"When you drop water levels by a meter they become mudflats that are basically unproductive for biological purposes."

A marina owner can point to the $30,000 it cost him to dredge a slip, but measuring the economic impact of lost fish stocks on a lake is much harder. Bass, pike and muskie return to the same spawning ground every year, and if they can't find them they don't spawn.

The continual dredging of the St. Clair River for navigational purposes is also adding to the low water problems in Lake Huron and Georgian Bay, Schiefer believes.

While Lake Ontario and Lake Superior have gates to control the flow of water, there is on such system in place in Lake Huron or Georgian Bay.

Mary Muter, vice president of The Georgian Bay Association believes part of the solution my lie in building a system of submerged gates in the St. Clair River to slow down the flow of water out of Lake Huron.

The organization, an umbrella group for 20 regional associations has uncovered documents showing the U.S. Corps of Engineers had plans to build such a system in the 1930's.

"The project was never completed, and we are asking that they do that now," Muter said. "We have connected with some coastal engineers and we are looking for funding to do the modeling." "

Schiefer compares the dredging that is going on in the St. Clair River to accommodate the big steamship lines to enlarging the drain on a bathtub.

" I you increase the size of the drain in the bathtub the bathtub empties quicker, "he said. "Water in the bathtub stays at a constant level, but if you reduce the inflow due to global warming or climate change or whatever, while at the same time enlarging the drain by dredging, then the water level in the bathtub is ging to go down quicker."

Whether more and more cottagers find themselves mowing their lake bottom lawns then fishing may very well rest with scientists and engineers finding the right plug for the bathtub.

Karl Schiefer is one of the environmental heroes featured in the Great Warming a three -hour Canadian produced documentary which premiers on the Discovery Channel on Earth Day, April 22.