After studying possible repairs and consulting with experts, Sahuarita town officials have decided to refill the leaky Sahuarita Lake until they have a solution.
The decision was made partly because the town prepaid $10,000 for the lake to be stocked with fish, but it can’t be stocked while water levels are 2-3 feet below normal, said Parks and Recreation Director Debbie Summers.
At a Sahuarita Town Council meeting Monday, Assistant Town Engineer Sheila Bowen said an inspection of the lake wall found “137 locations of noteworthy irregularities.”
The inspection was done in July after town staff noticed saturated soil around the wall of the man-made, 12-year-old lake. They dug down and found leaking, Bowen said. Water use was up by 5 acre feet compared to a year earlier, she said.
Among the problems are cracks and settling, which “could eventually result in structural issues with the wall,” Bowen told the Town Council.
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One part of the wall on the east bank has settled 12 inches, she said.
Bowen recommended making some of the easy repairs, such as filling minor cracks, and then refilling the lake.
That would protect mechanical equipment such as skimmer boxes and aeration systems, and it would minimize disruption to the public and allow stocking the lake with fish, she said.
It will take up to two months to fill the lake to its normal level.
Meanwhile the town will continue to watch the water loss and study repair strategies, Bowen said.
A consultant estimated the cost to repair the known cracks — which could only be half of the actual cracks — is $227,000, she said. And many contractors aren’t willing to warranty the work.
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