For two days White Rock Lake-goers have complained about a dramatic drop in water levels. And for two days, Dallas Water Utilities officials believed the lake was down simply because of the lack of rain in recent weeks.

But Thursday evening, DWU's assistant director Randy Payton discovered the lake indeed had an issue along the spillway that has caused water levels to drop between four to six inches — a "significant" amount, Payton said.

Payton said the spillway is missing "at least one, maybe two" of the stoplogs — timber beams, essentially — that are used to regulate lake levels. As a result, water was flowing over the spillway and into White Rock Creek, he said.

Crews were making temporary repairs Thursday evening. But DWU was already planning on major repairs at the spillway and dam, which is seeping in spots along the base. In fact, according to a timeline DWU director Terry Lowery recently provided to The Dallas Morning News, that project is supposed to be awarded some time this winter, with construction scheduled to begin shortly after.

Replacing those stoplogs was a significant part of that project.

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It's not clear how long the existing beams have been missing. But Lowery said that earlier this week, Texas Parks and Wildlife contacted DWU after "a concerned citizen called and said lake levels had dropped." Lowery said officials didn't notice any "abnormalities." Dallas City Council member Paula Blackmon's office also received calls throughout the week about dropping lake levels.

At the same time, members of the Corinthian Sailing Club began to notice a dramatic drop. Ralph Jones, who prefers to go by Red Dog, said he could tell just by looking at the lake on the harbor's webcam accessed through the sailing club's website. He insists the drop is far more significant than just a few inches.

"You could tell from the shoreline, too," he said. "It has receded significantly."

DWU's Payton said "people in different parts of the lake have different perspectives."

A member of the club hopped in a rescue boat and went to inspect the weir wall along the spillway. Photos, posted Thursday on Facebook, show the wall along the spillway looking like a smile "missing its front teeth," as Jones put it.

At that point a heated discussion erupted on social media. Some people insisted this was no more than a routine water release, perhaps related to maintenance; others maintained the dam had broken. Some also expressed consternation about the state of Sunset Bay: Krista de la Harpe wrote Thursday that it was "disappearing fast [and] turning into a field of mud."

Officials survey the spillway at White Rock Lake on Thursday, July 25, 2019 in Dallas. (Ryan Michaelesko / Staff Photographer)

Naturalist Ben Sandifer said Thursday he'd heard about the issue three days earlier and went to the lake to see for himself. At the time, he said, "it looked to me like some of the vertical board slats were removed on the spillway." But, he said, "Dallas Water Utilities does this from time to time," often in the summer.

He said he was surprised to find out the logs had shaken loose.

Workers expected to finish installing the new beams before dark Thursday. Lowery said several of the other stoplogs appear to be "in rough shape" and will be replaced next week.

"This is a temporary fix, not a permanent one," Lowery said. "The permanent one will be part of the total repairs we do at the dam."