Joe Shamblin, town public works supervisor, said they are advising the community that the lake will soon be closed to the public until further notice.
Shamblin said the lake has experienced bank erosion because the water level is too low, as well as instances of vandalism and illegal dumping, including trash and dead animals. He said people are also driving their vehicles around the lake, which is destroying the bank.
"It's a combination of a lot of things," Shamblin said about the reason for the closure.
The intake structure at the lake is one of the things recently vandalized. Shamblin said they had to have a diver come out and inspect the intake structure after some items on the structure were torn loose.
"Fortunately they (the vandals) weren't able to do a lot of damage," Shamblin said.
Shamblin said they are first notifying the public before the lake is closed and barricaded, which is expected to be in about a week. Once the lake is barricaded, the public will not have access to the dam or parking area.
The lake level has remained about the same despite recent rain.
"It didn't alleviate any of our problems," Shamblin said of the rainfall.
He said the lake currently has about 20 feet of water at the intake structure, which usually has about 32 feet of water.
"We're trying to safeguard it as much as possible," Shamblin said.
