FOMBELL, Beaver County —A sudden thunderstorm chased more than 125 Hereford Manor Lake supporters into a hangar at the Zelienople Municipal Airport Thursday evening, but the funding forecast for saving the recreational lake was as dismal as the weather outside.

The Hereford Manor Lake Conservancy and Watershed Group held the second of two public meetings at the airport to present the results of a feasibility study regarding the two faulty earthen dams at the lake. The dams were deemed hazardous in 2003 by the state Department of Environmental Protections because their 50-year-old construction type does not meet current safety standards.

The dams, which shore up the upper and lower lakes, must be improved or replaced or the lake could be drained. The state Fish and Boat Commission, which owns the lake, does not have the money to fix the problem.

If the dams would give way, 27 buildings, nine of them homes, would be jeopardized. So would routes 288 and 588, the airport and a railroad. But Gary Moore of the Fish and Boat Commission said chances of the dams breaking without catastrophic rainfall are "very small."

"We had (Hurricane) Ivan, and the dams held for that," said John Buerkle of Pashek and Associates, who did the feasibility study.

Buerkle told the capacity crowd the study produced four possibilities for bringing the dams up to state standards:

• $12 million to drain the upper lake and keep the larger lower lake.

• $25.5 million to restore the earthen dams.

• $31 million to take the dams out and create one dam.

• $38 million to create one dam plus restore a lower lake.

But no conventional funding options would cover even the least expensive option.

"We haven't found that money tree yet," Buerkle said.

He said the Governor's Rebuild Pennsylvania Initiative will disburse $33.8 million for such projects, but the Fish and Boat Commission has identified 16 at-risk dams that would cost a total of $70 million to repair.

Meetings with state representatives, getting a share of state gaming funds, and even strip mine reclamation funding were options explored in the study to no avail.

Buerkle said the state DEP could mandate the dams be brought up to state standards within a certain time, but he suggested the department might accept an extended time period to complete the project if action were under way to rectify the problem.

Ron Segal, whose 100 acre property is on the northwest edge of the dam, suggested an attempt to get corporate sponsorships via naming rights. He said large corporations could name the land surrounding the dam and hold picnics and other functions there.

Segal also told the crowd a sewage treatment plant being planned to the north of the lake will release treated effluence into the Connoquenessing Creek, which feeds into the dam.

"I sympathize with everyone trying to save these lakes, but if you're going to have sewage pumped into them, what's the point of saving them?" Segal asked.

Kevin Bowser, who attended the meeting to represent state Rep. Jarret Gibbons, D-10th, said Gibbons has the lake in mind as state budget deliberations continue in Harrisburg.

"We are committed to having the lake here forever," Bowser said.

Ellwood City resident Chuck Wehr has frequented the lake since he was a boy.

"I caught my first fish out of there," Wehr said.

He now hunts on the grounds surrounding the lake. Wehr said the walking trails, cycling, the natural landscape and "just being out in the woods" also are important features of the lake.

"If we lose it, we'll lose a lot more than fishing," Wehr said. "It's a wonderful spot for recreation."

His friend, Richard Shoop of Zelienople, has hunted and fished at Hereford Manor Lake since the early 1970s. He fears if the lake is drained and filled in, the land will attract developers and the beautiful lake and its surrounding woods will become yet another housing development.

"It's really nice to be able to drive one mile to get in the outdoors," Shoop said.

No decisions were made at the meeting on a course of action for the lake.