LIBERTY, Ind. — The beach is closed, there are no boats on the water, and gaggles of Canada geese, great blue herons, mallards and fish teem in pools of water as the 170-acre Whitewater Lake shrinks. (MAP)

Fishing is still allowed at Whitewater Lake this summer. (Dick Swaim photo) | ZOOM |

        The Indiana Department of Natural Resources began draining the man-made lake in late May into Brookville Lake via Silver Creek. The dam is adjusted so it drops about a foot a day. The plan is to empty the lake and replace the 52-year-old spillway, whose base has been eaten away by time and nature. Other improvements are planned, too, for the lakefront of Whitewater Memorial State Park, one of the most popular summer spots for Tristate outdoors enthusiasts.

        It's a rare, $700,000 project that will keep the lake closed to boating and swimming throughout the season.

        “There are going to be people who are not going to come to the park because there's no swimming, and there's not going to be much fishing. So that could have an impact (on park attendance),” said Bob Felix, state property manager for Whitewater and nearby Brookville Lake.

        But those who still come to Whitewater Lake, about two miles south of here, are not complaining — they bring lawn chairs and fishing equipment and sit on newly exposed shoreline and fish for bluegill, crappie and bass. They still pull campers into the campground. Some even comb what is now a wide shoreline searching for treasures:

        a flight feather, perhaps, a freshwater shell, a fishing lure, loose change.

        Kenneth Wayne Steele, whose nickname is “Shrimp,” has a couple of poles in the lake and a bucket full of brightly colored bluegill and channel catfish.

        He arrived at the lake on his motorcycle from Connersville, Ind., his hair tamed in a ponytail, his beard not tamed at all. He wore rubber boots that came to his knees. Cans and bottles, a park bench, and the backbone and skull of a deer were scattered before him on the exposed shoreline. The fishing was good.

        “They're trying to find a place to live,” said Mr. Steele, as he pulled bluegill from the water. “They're lost. They've lost their natural habitat. They're all bunched up here. These little bluegills are looking for a home. I'm catching a mess of fish.”

        Marvin and Charlotte Rehmert, who live near Dayton, Ohio, walked along a deserted beach to see what the receding waters left behind. Both are campers.

        “It's got to be fixed,” said Mr. Rehmert of the spillway. “It can't go on. It may be an inconvenience, but it has to be done. I'm glad they're doing it.”

        Matt Gross was on the lakefront with his wife, Teresa, and daughters Ariel, 9, and Sunshine Anderson, 12, all of them fishing the shoreline. The fishing was fine, but Ariel misses swimming at the beach that's now closed.

        Mr. Gross knows the work needed to be done.

        “It'll be good to get some of the fish out of here. There's a lot of carp in here. They'll die out,” he said.

        Indeed, Indiana's natural resources department will try to capture as many “good” fish as it can and release them in nearby Brookville Lake. The “trash” fish — such as shad and carp — will not be rescued. Next year, the lake will be restocked with bluegill, bass, catfish and eventually crappie.

        It's too early to tell what economic impact draining the lake will have on Liberty and Union County. Some think it'll be negligible because of the proximity of Brookville Lake — a formidable 5,260 acres — and because the park itself is not closing. The campgrounds, with more than 300 sites, remain open. There is also horseback riding.

        About 500,000 people use Whitewater Memorial State Park each year, said Mr. Felix, and 75 to 80 percent of them come from Ohio.

        “There's more people living in Ohio, and this is within an hour of Cincinnati, Dayton, Middletown, places like that,” Mr. Felix said.

        David Pflum, director of the Union County Economic Development Corp., an umbrella group for the Chamber of Commerce and retail merchants, likewise isn't sure of the draining's effect on commerce. In fact, he thinks it could be a selling point.

        “The last time they drained that lake people went to look,” Mr. Pflum said. “It became almost a scenic point of interest. The lake bed was dry. So that affords some opportunity. You end up with people who are curious. I'm wondering whether we should be promoting it in that regard. It might have some scenic value.”

        Megan Van Winkle, 9, dressed in a swimsuit, played on the spillway — 185 feet long, 75 feet wide, baked a green-brown under an unrelenting sun — while her father, Kevin Van Winkle, fished in the pool at the foot of the spillway.

        “Here's some sunglasses that got scooped away in the water!” Megan called out to her father. Cliff swallows flitted noiselessly overhead.

        To reach the spillway they crossed the roadway that runs over the dam, and listened as the lake water rushed through the dam and emptied into Silver Creek, which empties into Brookville reservoir.

        Draining a lake or reservoir is an uncommon event, but not rare. It is usually done for dam and spillway maintenance. Whitewater Lake was lowered in 1977 and again in 1985 for spillway concrete repairs. Refilling should take several months, officials estimate.

        “It doesn't happen every week, but it's not unheard of,” Mr. Felix said.

        Heavy equipment was being moved into the park last week, with construction scheduled to begin before July. The spillway will be replaced, a longer sea wall will be constructed, a wooden walkway by the spillway will be replaced by a concrete walkway, the boat ramp will be enlarged to accommodate two boats instead of one, and a new dock will be put in near the boat rental house.

        Work on the lakefront makes little difference to David and Diane Young, of Eaton, Ind. They sat in the shade beside their camper at the park and relaxed.

        “We just like to camp,” said Mr. Young, who has been camping at the park for 40 years. “I love it here. I just relax, get away, do nothing. What they're doing doesn't affect us at all. Camping's the main thing.”

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