I was still at School 1958ish when those children fell through the ice on 'Sandy bottom Lake'.
Not long afterwards the Council decided to drain them so they did that in the early to mid 1960s.
As Mac Cummings rightly said the River Tyne & the Sea were far more dangerous than our lakes. Most deaths in the lakes were suicides.
I think the Council thought 'mmm more land for housing so they drained all four lakes to get the extra land.