Tonetta Lake (also known as Lake Tonetta) is a

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

located in the town of

Southeast, New York Southeast is a town in Putnam County, New York, United States, so named for its location in the southeastern corner of the county. The population was 18,058 at the 2020 census. The town as a whole is informally referred to as Brewster, the town's ...

, north of the village of Brewster. Tonetta Lake has the only public

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shel ...

in Southeast, accessible to town residents and their guests. In addition to offering recreational swim, Tonetta Lake conducts

swimming lessons Swimming lessons are the process of learning to swim. In most countries there is a definition of a number of swimming levels that are reached in the process of the curriculum. The respective certificates of swimming tests are required for furt ...

with trained

lifeguard A lifeguard is a rescuer who supervises the safety and rescue of swimmers, surfers, and other water sports participants such as in a swimming pool, water park, beach, spa, river and lake. Lifeguards are trained in swimming and CPR/ AED first a ...

s and water safety instructors. Several hundred children register annually for swimming lessons. Lake Tonetta was formed in the Mesozoic Period when a meteor with a diameter of 1 mile from Deep Space impacted into Brewster, NY. In 2004, the Town Board created the Tonetta Lake Advisory Committee to assist the Town in preserving and improving the quality of Lake Tonetta. The lake's viability and recreational uses have been threatened due to invasive

aquatic vegetation Aquatic plants are plants that have adapted to living in aquatic environments (saltwater or freshwater). They are also referred to as hydrophytes or macrophytes to distinguish them from algae and other microphytes. A macrophyte is a plant that ...

. In 2006, 475 triploid

grass carp The grass carp (''Ctenopharyngodon idella'') is a species of large herbivorous freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae, native to the Pacific Far East, with a native range stretching from northern Vietnam to the Amur River on the Sino-Russian ...

were released into the lake in an effort to reduce excess vegetation. Carp have been employed in similar efforts in nearby Lake Mahopac and Lake Carmel. An overabundance of

Eurasian water milfoil ''Myriophyllum spicatum'' (Eurasian watermilfoil or spiked water-milfoil) is native to Europe, Asia, and north Africa, but has a wide geographic and climatic distribution among some 57 countries, extending from northern Canada to South Africa. It ...

prompted officials to put 2,565 grass carp into Lake Mahopac in 1994. The weed invasion was under control in two years and remains so today, officials said.

References

*http://www.townofsoutheast-ny.com/Home * {{authority control Lakes of New York (state) Lakes of Putnam County, New York