Wondering What That Smell is Coming From White Rock Lake?

As someone who lives on the east side of White Rock Lake, I’m pretty used to the occasional weird smell emanating from the urban body of water. However, when the second email hit my inbox about a sewage-like odor coming from White Rock Lake, I had to smell it for myself.

The Dallas Arboretum is a popular venue for real estate events, and one agent who visited the Arboretum in the last few weeks remarked at how impossible it was to enjoy an outdoor event at the lake when all guests could smell was the pungent odor of what many guests thought was sewage.

Now, in fall, White Rock Lake often suffers a cyclical turn of the water, where the murky, cool bottom of the lake comes to the surface — and brings all of those lovely smells with it. Indeed, one reader said that she thought the work at the White Rock Lake spillway could be the cause. City officials alerted residents near the lake that the city would be dropping the lake level in order to inspect the spillway and make repairs.

This, however, was a different issue.

I reached out to District 9 Dallas City Council member Paula Blackmon and her assistants, as well as officials at the City of Dallas Parks Department, describing the issue. While Blackmon was out of the office on Friday, city staff pinpointed the issue.

According to Dallas Water Utilities staffer Steven Schenk:

Regarding the odor described in the vicinity of the Arboretum, a Wastewater Collection (WWC) Emergency Response crew investigated the area and noticed sewer odor coming from one of the vent stacks installed on a 36” wastewater main in Lawther Dr. For precautionary measures, WWC crew is currently working to replace all five (5) odor control devices in the area.

Here’s hoping that, when the sewer line vent stacks are fixed, outdoor events at the Dallas Arboretum become much more enjoyable.