Lake Chesterfield

"Déjà vu all over again," said Bruce Colella, who is chairman of the homeowners association board of trustees.

Although about four dozen ducks caught an easy lunch in the shallow waters yesterday, the declining lake level wasn’t a welcome development for residents, who thought they had resolved the problem with lots of hard work and money.

A geologist determined last year that water cracked and dissolved limestone underground, carving pockets in the bedrock. The bedrock collapsed, forming a sinkhole that drained water from the lake, like a plug being pulled out of a full bathtub.

Residents of the subdivision voted to contribute about $1,000 per home for lake repairs and related costs, spending about $650,000 on the massive effort.

And the lake was almost back to normal levels last month.

But last week, residents noticed - much to their dismay - that the lake level was dropping again, by at least a foot a day for the past six days, Colella said.

Fish habitats that used to be submerged now jut out, looking like tiny islands surfacing in the water.

A lake biologist told residents there was no way to save the roughly 19,000 fish, many of them minnows or small fish, added to the restocked lake.

Colella said the lake must drain before a geologist can determine what the problem is.

He said he believes residents will want to replace the lake again, especially as it’s required to hold storm water.

"Last year, I knew what to do," Colella said.

"This year, I’m not sure. I don’t think people have the stomach for another $1,000 assessment."

He did not anticipate a similar charge for the leaky lake this time, saying residents also previously approved a 5 percent surcharge on their annual assessment for lake repairs.

Peter Price, a geologist with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Geology and Land Survey, hadn’t seen the lake’s latest decline but previously had taken a look at it.

"I’m sure it’s the same sort of issue," Price said. "This type of geologic terrain is very unpredictable. Although they found the major conduit that drained the lake last year, there may be other, smaller feeder conduits that did not get plugged or were present they were not able to find or may have opened up since then."

A resident whose home sits next to the lake, Margaret Scharr, 92, said she doesn’t know whether the lake should be fixed and refilled. At a minimum, she said, fish shouldn’t be added until it’s absolutely clear the problem is corrected.

"I would be afraid it would happen again," she said.

Meanwhile, Joyce Schnoes, 68, said she thought the best choice would be to attempt to fix the problem again.

For Schnoes, the devastation of Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast put the matter in perspective.

"When you see people who have lost everything well, so we’ve got a hole in our lake? We’ll get through it."