WAVERLY, Ohio — Pike Lake State Park officials will begin the annual winter drawdown of Lake White on Monday, Nov. 2, lowering the lake’s flood gate one foot per week until the water reaches winter pool level.
Residents with property along the lake should begin removing their boats this week or next, the park office said in a Facebook post. Questions about the drawdown can be directed to the park office at 740-493-2212, option 3.
The winter lowering is a routine step at many Ohio state park lakes, used to protect docks, seawalls and shoreline from ice damage and to help control aquatic weed growth, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Exposing lake-bottom sediment to freezing and drying over the winter months stresses unwanted vegetation before water levels rise again in the spring.
Lake White sits on the southwest edge of Waverly in Pike County and has drawn boaters and anglers for more than seven decades. The lake was built by the Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression and became part of Ohio’s state park system in 1949, when the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Parks and Recreation was created. The park today covers 92 acres of land surrounding the 337-acre lake, with a beach, boat ramps, campground and cabins along its shoreline.
The lake’s dam underwent major repairs after engineers found signs of leaking in 2014, prompting a temporary drawdown at the time. The Ohio Department of Transportation awarded a contract the following year to fix both the dam and the bridge that crosses it.
The information contained in this story was obtained from Pike Lake State Park.
