Despite Recent Rain Storms, Suffolk County Lake Is Nearly Dried Up

NORTH BABYLON, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- With all the rain we've had recently you'd think our lakes would be overflowing.

But that's not the case on Long Island, where one lake is nearly dried up.

As CBS2's Carolyn Gusoff reported, folks who live around Deer Lake in North Babylon said that while the lake looks deep and lush, it's actually so shallow you can walk across it.

"If this drops more, you'll start to see some sand," Vincent Cangialosi said.

The Cangialosis' dock used to have lake water lapping at the top. Now, at times, shallow becomes bone dry.

Even after recent rains and heavy winter snowfall, water levels are mysteriously low again, dropping a foot in just the last week.

"It dries out. It becomes very sad. It's depressing. The smell is atrocious," Marla Kaplan said.

Kaplan launched a petition urging Suffolk to install a pump station to regulate water levels.

Using taxpayer funds would mean the private oasis, accessible only to residents, would have to open to public access.

Most agree that it's a small price to pay to save the picturesque lake, but they differ on the bigger picture. Where has all the water gone?

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation said many Long Island lakes and ponds, supplied by ground water, lose depth in drought conditions.

"Over the last 100 years we know there is less rainfall falling on Suffolk County. We also know when it does rain it happens typically all at once," Stony Brook University Marine Biologist Christopher Gobler said.

Storm water runs off instead of staying where it's needed.

"If we are going to give up lakes and or wildlife, Long Island is just not going to be the same," Kaplan said.

Weather patterns tend to be cyclical, but experts said this is another sign that rain levels are cycling down.

The proposed pump station and public fishing pier would cost about a quarter million dollars and requires New York state approval.

Suffolk County is launching a feasibility study on building a pumping station to resupply the lake.