Lake San Antonio reopens after two-week closure due to massive fish die-off

BRADLEY, Calif. (KION-TV) - Lake San Antonio is back open after hundreds of thousands of dead fish washed ashore earlier this month. County of Monterey officials recently finishing the cleanup of a massive fish die-off during a two-week closure.

“Over the course of a number of weeks here, park staff have been working to clean that. As well as we're doing a lot of help from the wildlife," said County of Monterey Chief of Parks Bryan Flores.

According to the county, recent water tests show there’s no harmful bacteria in the lake that people need to be concerned about and with some of the warm summer day, they say Lake San Antonio is safe to take a dip in.

While the reopening of the lake is off to a slow start, it couldn’t come soon enough for the Pleyto Store, which was hit hard by the two-week closure.

“It made a really big difference. We noticed that not as many people are coming in," said Pleyto Store cashier Kaylee de la Rosa.

Up until the closure earlier this month, business was booming for the store near the lake.

“We've been open for two years. And this has definitely been our busiest summer. And I think it's because everybody got used to having the lake here," Kaylee de la Rosa said.

The county estimates the lake has lost at least $200,000 in revenue from the closure.

“Where people are camping, and recreating they won't even know that anything had happened in a second. It's cleaner and better than it was before this event," Flores said.

County officials add environmental health signed off on the lake being safe for recreation.