Staten Island’s Silver Lake is giving up decades of soggy secrets — from a vandalized street sign to an old motorcycle — as the massive city reservoir mysteriously drains away.
The water level is down six to seven feet since early October, photo comparisons show.
Leaks underneath the lake are going unaddressed by the city Department of Environmental Protection, which has also stopped pumping water into the lake.
The 56-acre lake was built as a city reservoir in 1917, but hasn’t been used for drinking water since 1971. Today, underground storage tanks next to the lake supply Staten Island’s water.
The lake collects the tanks’ overflow, and forms the centerpiece of picturesque Silver Lake Park.
“The water hasn’t been this low since the early 1980s,” said parkgoer Patty Ribeiro, who lives nearby.
In 1982, an interagency battle halted water flow into the lake for a year, sparking local uproar that made the lake’s maintenance a DEP responsibility.
Ribeiro sees more debris each day as the water recedes: “a plastic toy scooter, a rubber raft, traffic cones, broken ladders.”
The motorcycle, once totally submerged, is now eight feet from the water’s edge.
“You’d sometimes just see the tip of the wheel,” Ribeiro said of the landmark she uses to gauge the lake’s depth.
The draining of the lake came as a shock to leaders of local civic groups, including Dominick DeRubbio of the Silver Lake Conservancy.
“Maybe we can take advantage of this situation,” DeRubbio said, referring to the cleanup efforts of the now-dried up depths.
The DEP would not say how low the water level will go or when the lake will be restored.
And suddenly a wall of sand appeared at horizon. By Ann Britton
The storm swept through Boulia in Queensland. By Ann Britton
And turned the day into night. 
You need to be a member of Earth Changes and the Pole Shift to add comments!
Join Earth Changes and the Pole Shift