DOVER, Del.- A fish kill earlier this summer at Silver Lake in Dover is causing lingering problems with the lake's water.
After the fish kill in July, City of Dover employees opened the valve to the dam in order to let more water flow to the area affected by the fish kill. However, City Manager Scott Koenig said there have been unintended consequences.
"The unfortunate part of opening that valve was we reduced the level of water in the lake in a very short period of time," he said.
Koenig said the valve was not properly monitored due to miscommunication and now the lake is low on water.
"Employees were acting in good intent and I think their actions were meritous as far as the fish were concerned, in trying to save the lives of the fish," he said. "However, because of the internal communication issue we did lower the level of the lake."
The city is working on a plan to put firmer procedures into place so the valve is not left open again.
But that provides little comfort to Jason Bodine, he goes to Silver Lake to fish and relax. He says the lack of water means he's catching less fish.
"It makes fishing horrible. Not as many fish no more," he said. "There's not a lot of shaded areas so the fish go to the shaded areas, further down. Places like under bridges and stuff like that, where it's harder to fish."
Koenig said nothing can be done about the lack of water at Silver Lake. He said the city is waiting for a soaking rain to come through the area.
