PAPILLION, Neb. KMTV) – Now that engineers believe they have identified the leak's location, they will use electric currents to map the soil composition in the top 40 to 60 feet of the lakebed.
- Engineers drilled about 250 holes across Portal Lake's dry lakebed and found coarse-grain sand near the surface causing the leak.
- The lake has been completely drained so engineers can use electric currents to map soil composition in the top 40 to 60 feet.
- Papio NRD hopes to have Portal Lake full of water by next spring.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Portal Lake in Papillion remains dry as engineers work to identify the source of a persistent leak and develop a plan to fix it.
Papio Missouri River Natural Resources District and Huston Engineering drilled holes across the lakebed to examine its surface layers and locate the problem area.
"It's known that there are sand deposits in this area, if we do find sand near the surface that's of course going to increase the rate that water can leave the lake," Bob Gregalunas, senior technical director at Huston Engineering, said.
The team drilled approximately 250 holes across the lakebed and found coarse-grain sand near the surface in a specific area. Papio NRD says this is a first for one of its reservoirs. Typically, sand pockets are capped with heavy clays that keep water in place. At Portal Lake, the sand sits closer to the surface, allowing water to escape.
"We drilled about 250 holes out through the surface the lake and this area in particular we found had sand, very coarse grain sand near the surface," Gregalunas said.
Now that engineers believe they have identified the leak's location, they will use electric currents to map the soil composition in the top 40 to 60 feet of the lakebed. To make that possible, crews have completely drained what little water remained in the lake.
Lindy Rogers, construction engineer for Papio Missouri River NRD, said the district is moving as quickly as it can.
"Our timeline would be to get this fixed as soon as possible, we know it's a highly used recreation area and an important flood control structure. Right now it's still performing it's flood control duties but we want to get the recreational component back for sure," Rogers said.
Papio NRD hopes to have Portal Lake full of water by next spring.
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