The lake continued for a time to be used as a domestic water supply and for stock watering; it also supplied the new legislative building. A longer term effect resulted, however, when lake water was used to cool machinery in the power plant (now the Powerhouse Museum) that was built in the eastern sector. Heated water returned to the lake, causing that sector to remain ice-free through the winter, and several species of migratory birds made it their year-round habitat. Although the old coal-fired power plant was decommissioned in the early 1970s, a permanent/non-migrating flock of Canada geese habituated to wintering in the city had to be rounded up and either transported out of the city or if injured then housed in a waterfowl sanctuary. The annual goose round-up continued into the 1990s. The eastern sector of the lake continues to be a waterfowl sanctuary.