MOUNT VERNON — The City of Mt. Vernon is alerting the public that the lake at Veterans Park is losing water quickly as the aging drawdown pipe has failed.

According to a press release, last week Public Works Field Supervisor, Stephen Talley, noticed the lake level seemed low considering the amount of rain received over the weekend. He found that the drawdown pipe was releasing water at an alarming rate.

It was apparent that the aging infrastructure of the spillway had failed, and City crews began attempting to stop the water loss. When the last attempt to plug the drawdown pipe failed, the decision was made to let it go and make plans to rebuild the dam and drawdown system. The release of water has not caused any damage as the spillway and drawdown discharge goes into a waterway on the south side of Forest Street.

City Manager Mary Ellen Bechtel says the City isn’t sure what happened, “Clearly, the drawdown pipe has failed, and we are losing water in Veterans Park Lake. The dam and spillway system are about 95 years old, and we have already written the replacement into the 10-year park improvement plan. Of course, this has become a priority.”

According to Bechtel, the City has tried to avoid a complete drawdown of the lake, but nothing has worked. So, they’ve hired Roundtable Design to address the replacement of the dam and drawdown system for the lake.

She says currently the timeline for the replacement and the cost is unknown. Bechtel notes they will continue the planned maintenance around the lake, and may take advantage of the low level to do more maintenance this year than they had planned. But she adds the priority is to get the dam and walking path replaced and a new drawdown system installed as soon as possible. Until then, the level will be low and there could be some odor around the lake and park.

Mayor Lewis said, “A few years ago there was a lot of community discussion about what to do with Veterans Park Lake and, clearly, the residents wanted the lake to remain and to be maintained. So, we will be addressing this as soon as possible to re-establish the Veterans Park Lake and to keep improving the park.”