St. Louis-area subdivision lake drains again, leaving dead fish

WILDWOOD, Mo. -- A St. Louis County lake is empty again, leaving behind hundreds of rotting fish. This time, a faulty valve is suspected.

The lake at the Lake Chesterfield subdivision in Wildwood has been a big, muddy hole for the last few weeks. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that for the second time in less than a decade, the lake is empty.

"It takes all the joy out of sitting on your deck when you are looking at a muddy hole," resident Maryann Benoist said. "Let's face it. We are Lake Chesterfield, so there has to be a lake."

The first time it happened, in 2004, a sinkhole was to blame. The vanishing water at that time made national headlines, and cost home-owners about $1,000 each to fix.

This time, trustees of the subdivision suspect a volleyball-sized leak. So far, they haven't found the spot.

"It's nothing new," said Jim Waskow, chairman of the subdivision trustees. "It happens in lakes all over Missouri."

The drained lake killed the entire fish population. Hundreds of fish lay rotting in the bed of a spillway.

It was just earlier this fall that the subdivision of 614 homes and 62 condos paid an engineering firm to open a valve at the dam to drain the lake a couple of feet at a time to try to find the hole. The hope was that it was near the shoreline and could be patched with relative ease.

During one of those scheduled drainings Oct. 28, the valve jammed and water eventually spilled away.

Part of the problem is that the lake rests on a bed of limestone. The 2004 sinkhole was repaired with $650,000 of major excavation work. Eroded bedrock was replaced with a blend of sand, water and concrete. The lake's clay liner was also compacted.

In the years since, the subdivision association has put money aside for future repairs, though it isn't clear how much it will cost for the new repairs.

Some residents have had enough and want to fill in the lake, perhaps turning it into a playground or mini golf course. However, the lake serves as a retention pond for Lake Chesterfield and other subdivisions and must remain by an agreement with the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District.

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Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com