{"id":72109,"date":"2025-12-16T12:06:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T12:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/72109\/"},"modified":"2025-12-16T12:06:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T12:06:11","slug":"evaporating-waters-reveal-yet-another-odd-sight-at-nyc-reservoir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/72109\/","title":{"rendered":"Evaporating waters reveal yet another odd sight at NYC reservoir"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dwindling water levels have revealed yet another odd sight at the Silver Lake Park reservoir. <\/p>\n

Those who go to the park can now see a large pipe resting amid the rocks in a portion of the park close to Silver Lake Park Road. <\/p>\n

\"nwsDwindling water levels at Silver Lake Park Reservoir have revealed this pipe.Tom Wrobleski | Staten Island Advance<\/p>\n

The pipe, with an eye-catching green component, appeared to be leaking when examined by the Advance\/SILive.com.<\/p>\n

The pipe is now visible after previously being submerged.<\/p>\n

The pipe is in a spot where a \u201cgolf ball graveyard\u201d had recently been discovered, <\/a>also thanks to the lower water levels in the reservoir. <\/p>\n

\"golfDwindling water levels at Silver Lake Park reservoir have revealed a number of errant golf balls from neighboring golf course.Tom Wrobleski\/Staten Island Advance<\/p>\n

The golf balls, which presumably ended up in the drink from neighboring Silver Lake Golf Course, are visible both in the water and along the rocky shoreline. <\/p>\n

The city Department of Environmental Protection said that the pipe is \u201cpart of the reservoir\u2019s infrastructure.\u201d <\/p>\n

The agency gave no reason why the pipe was seen to be leaking. <\/p>\n

\"silverThe pipe has been identified as part of the infrastructure at Silver Lake Park Reservoir.Tom Wrobleski | Staten Island Advance<\/p>\n

The pipe and the golf balls are not the only odd sites that have been revealed as drought conditions have caused the water in the reservoir basins to evaporate to rarely seen levels.<\/p>\n

\"silverYou can tread on ground that’s usually submerged in the reservoir basins at Silver Lake Park.Tom Wrobleski\/Staten Island Advance<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, a pistol and a pair of brass knuckles were discovered<\/a> wrapped in a bundle in one of the now-dry reservoir basins. <\/p>\n

\"silverPistol and brass knuckles found at Silver Lake Park reservoir.Reader submitted photo<\/p>\n

The DEP again warned park goers to stay out of the reservoir basins. <\/p>\n

A statement from the agency said: \u201cFencing and signage are installed around Silver Lake to clearly warn visitors \u2014 including both the public and members of the press \u2014 not to trespass onto reservoir grounds. Regardless of the current water level, DEP strongly urges everyone to stay out of the basins, as doing so poses serious safety risks and could result in injury.\u201d<\/p>\n

Signs that are visible on the fence along the rim of the reservoir warn park goers against entering the reservoir water; against going on ice at the reservoir, and about algae blooms in the water.<\/p>\n

The DEP has said that drought conditions have caused the water levels in the reservoir to drop.<\/p>\n

The DEP reiterated that its \u201ctop priority is conserving as much water as possible in our upstate reservoirs to ensure this valuable supply is available when needed. For that reason, we do not plan to refill Silver Lake immediately, as its purpose is purely aesthetic.\u201d<\/p>\n

The agency said, \u201cThe only way to raise it would be to release millions of gallons of drinking water \u2014 water that would be lost forever since Silver Lake is no longer part of the supply system.”<\/p>\n

Originally known as Fresh Pond, the lake was drained in 1913 and converted into a working reservoir by the Board of Water Supply.<\/p>\n

\"ctyThis undated postcard shows the lake in its pristine, bucolic state. (NYPL Digital Collection)<\/p>\n

Increasing development on the Island and pollution from seagulls eventually forced the city to build two 50-million-gallon underground water storage tanks at Silver Lake to protect the water supply.<\/p>\n

That transition means that the visible bodies of water at Silver Lake Park primarily serve an aesthetic and recreational purpose and are no longer considered critical infrastructure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dwindling water levels have revealed yet another odd sight at the Silver Lake Park reservoir. Those who go…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72110,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-72109","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}