TUSCARORA - Today workers at Tuscarora State Park are scheduled to lower the lake eight to 10 feet so sand can be put back in the swimming area.
"The beach sand eventually slides down to the bottom of the lake. We don't want it there. And if we didn't do this drawdown, we'd have to buy new sand," Lewis Williams, park manager, said Monday.
The last time park management did a drawdown was in 2008. They are done on an as-needed basis and it's not an expensive project, Williams said.
"Other than time for the labor involved to pay one or two workers to pull the beach sand back, it's not going to cost us anything," Williams said.
To get started, park workers will drive to the Locust Creek Dam and turn a large crank that opens a valve.
"They'll have to turn that more than 100 times," Williams said.
He admitted Monday he didn't have the strength to do it.
"There's a valve that lets water out. It's in the bottom of the lake. What happens is it drains out through the dam into the Locust Creek that goes into the Little Schuylkill. It will drain out about two feet a day," Williams said.
According to calculations Williams did Monday, there's an average of 619,116,900 gallons of water in Tuscarora Lake, which sits on 96 acres. It will take a week for the drawdown to be completed, he said.
Williams wasn't certain exactly how many gallons would be drawn out, but said it would be complete when the edge of the water reaches the base of the metal depth markers.
"They mark the confines of the swimming area, which is six feet deep," Williams said.
Then, park workers will use a track loader to scoop sand from the bottom of the lake and dump it back onto the beach.
"The size of our beach is about two acres," Williams said.
He said the state will also replace the metal depth markers with plastic ones.
More than 10,000 people a year visit Tuscarora Lake and the peak season runs from May to September, according to Williams.
The drawdown will discourage outdoors people from taking out their boats. It will affect the park's boat launch mooring area, where boaters rent spaces for their canoes. There are 80 spaces and "about 60" are rented, Williams said.
"You won't see boats on the lake while it's drawn down. The courtesy docks will be taken off the water," Williams said.
Anglers may not want to come out during the drawdown, but are welcome to, Lewis said.
"This will affect fishing somewhat. People who shoreline fish will need to go out in the mud and that won't be much fun. But we don't discourage it," Williams said.
The lake will be replenished by Mother Nature, Williams said.
"There's a pretty good flow through the lake. We'll just have to turn the valve to find the right balance to refill the lake while continuing the flow through the dam. The lake should be back up to normal levels by the end of November," he said.