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Residents and homeowners around the Deal Lake area need not be alarmed in the coming days as the level of the lake significantly decreases.

In preparation for an upcoming lake clean up to take place Oct. 26, members of the Deal Lake Commission will begin to lower the lake starting Oct. 22 by opening up two large metal doors located under the flume house structure, called sluice gates [pictured at right, with the south gate half open], so the lake can drain out into the ocean making debris easier for the clean up crew to see and remove.

Each sluice gate is attached to a pole-like structure that rise out of the lake up into the flume house and attach to individual actuators. Through use of a drill, Deal Lake commissioners are able to mechanically operate the actuators to open the gates. When the gates were first built, the actuators had to be operated by use of a hand-crank. The commissioners keep at least one crank on-hand should the drill malfunction or the building lose power.

When the northern and southern sluice gates are at “full open,” the lake will drain into the ocean at a rate of 1 inch per hour, according to Don Brockel, chairman of the Deal Lake Commission.

Deal Lake originally opened to the sea until the early 1890′s when a flume was built, according to the Deal Lake Commission web site. A flume is a man-made channel for water to travel through.

The Deal Lake channel begins at the westernmost portion of the lake, under the flume house, and travels west under Ocean Avenue and out through the jetty that separates Asbury Park’s Eighth Avenue beach from Loch Arbor. Water is constantly in exchange between the lake and the ocean.

For more information about the flume house, including photos of the interior and videos of the channel activity, click here. Residents can also check the status of the lake on the left side of the Deal Lake Commission website.

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