Lake water drop puzzles residents

During harsh winters, the frozen Lake Woodrail provides ice skating ground for Woodrail residents. In March, the ice melts, and preparations for summer activities on the lake begin.

But not this year.

“We have a leak,” said Denny Douglas, president of the Lake Woodrail Homeowners’ Association, which comprises 128 homeowners.

The water level has dropped as much as 30 feet, leaving 15 to 17 feet of water in the deepest parts, said Jodie Brand, chair of the association’s lake committee. She said she first noticed the drop in January, but it didn’t become a neighborhood-wide concern until March.

During any other summer, canoes and kayaks dot the 15-acre body of water, which is usually busy with swimmers and anglers.

“Oh, it was wonderful,” Brand said. “Very peaceful and very enjoyable — it was not an icky-feeling lake.”

This summer, the neighborhood waits. Although the lake committee is exploring a potential leak in the perimeter of the lake, other possibilities include a problem inside the dam, multiple leaks along the base of the dam or a leak through the bottom of the lake.

If the problem is a leak, the first step in the lake recovery process would be to let the lake drain and identify the source. If they find the problem area, a lake specialist would step in to pressure grout the hole, a solution that would cost about $50,000, Brand said.

This isn’t the first time Woodrail residents have had lake trouble. In 1997, the water level dropped 10 feet, and the association turned to Strata Services to plug the hole with concrete.

Dave Taylor, owner of Strata Services, said the problem nine years ago was a small sinkhole.

“We injected grout into cavities underground and sealed those features,” Taylor said. The type of geology underlying the lake is called karst, which is characterized by sinkholes and caves.

A couple years after the initial problem, because the water level began to vary again, some residents decided to fund a deep well that would give them the capability to add water to the lake.

“It was a very controversial thing,” Brand said. Even though only a few residents were funding the project, the homeowners association approved the well. Brand said the well will be especially useful in refilling the lake.

“Once we fix the leak, we can turn on the well instead of just waiting for the rainwater,” Brand said.

A leaking lake isn’t a problem specific to Lake Woodrail or even to Columbia. Taylor said his firm has repaired as many as 300 lakes and dams in 20 years.

“There are just literally hundreds of lakes in Missouri that have significant leakage problems,” Taylor said.