PIKE COUNTY, Pa. — In a few weeks, the water level at Lake Wallenpaupack will drop for routine maintenance to the dam.
Beginning September 9, the water levels will be lowered to 1,174 feet above sea level.
Every five years, Brookfield Renewable has to conduct routine maintenance and inspection of the dam and facility along the Pike County side of the lake.
Lower water levels make it harder for boats to get in and out of the water, and some places like Pine Crest Marina have to pull docks out sooner than normal.
Tom Hiller works at Pine Crest and says they recently notified their customers about the changes.
"We've been getting a lot of calls, you know, just making sure that they know what time to get out by, and it's really for all the marinas. We were told that this year is going to be a little bit shorter than normal."
Regular visitors to the lake know about the drawdown and when it happens. For people unaware of it, it was disappointing to hear that getting in and out in certain areas of the lake may not be easy.
"It hurts, but if they have to do the drawdown, that's life on the lake," Jim Shanley said. "There's not much you can do about it. You got to go with the flow."
The 5-foot drawdown won't be noticeable out in the deeper sections of the lake, but it will be if you're going to try to put your boat in the water along the shoreline.
"Rocks that normally are submerged now are right at good prop height to catch props. You'll probably get a few more people on the weekends catching their prop on a rock, but other than that, if you're careful and you know where things are, it's not a worry," said Mike Baronski from Greentown.
Once inspections of the dam are complete, the water levels will return to normal naturally by springtime.