ST. LOUIS — The water in Benton Park Lake is disappearing, and several sinkholes have opened up around it. If this sounds mysterious, it's because it is. Park officials don't know what is causing it to happen.
"We are trying to find the origin and where we are with how deep they are," City of St. Louis Director of Parks, Recreation and Forestry Greg Hayes said.
Park staff is also keeping an eye on the dropping lake levels.
"If we drain the lake completely—it's a one-acre lake—it would be very extensive, so we are unsure of exactly what's across the lake on the bottom. We could find out, though," Hayes said.
It may not be necessary to drain the lake. The department has hired a geology firm to map the sinkholes for a possible fix.
Hayes said sinkholes can often be repaired.
"You try to identify how deep they are and then you can use fill, aggregate, soil, bentonite, clay."
Summer days are coming to an end, which puts park staff on a tight timeline.
"We don't have any specificity on the time frame," Hayes says, "but we definitely hopefully will get it rectified before the winter."
The surprise geologic activity at the park has some neighbors curious.
"I had heard some rumors of the sinkholes and possible cave access," said nearby resident Troy Chebuhar.
No luck there. Chebuhar seemed a bit disappointed with the Benton Park sinkholes.
"I wasn't sure if it was sinkholes or some sort of construction honestly."