City will try again to keep water from leaking out of Paradise Lake

You can tell we’re in an extended drought because Kids Paradise Lake in King Jack Park appears as if someone opened its drain.

There’s a “drain” all right, and Bryan Waggoner, director of parks and recreation, says they’re going to keep trying to put a stop to it.

Those rocks that you can see now are the problem, he says. “They’re kind of like glaciers. What you can see is only the top of them.”

Multiple steps have been taken over the years to stop the leakage. Trees were removed from the dam. A new layer of clay has been spread. And Bentonite has been applied to the cracks.

The east side of the lake was separated from the west side under the bridge so that at least the east side remains full. There’s a well on the east side that helps keep it full and cause it to overflow (when there’s not a drought) into the west side.

Waggoner says with each effort the lake gets better… and then another leak appears.

The plan now is to try both the clay and Bentonite again “to at least slow it (the leak) down” so the pump on the east lake can help refill the west side.

“If we don’t keep trying (to fix it), it’s always going to be a problem,” Waggoner says.

“One of these times, we’ll control it.”