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19-12-2024, 09:11 AM
Of the 64 state-owned dams classified as “high hazard” – meaning their failure could result in loss of life – 33 are in poor condition, said the chief engineer of the Department of Environmental Services’ Dam Bureau.
“Each one of those high hazard dams, I mean, the risk associated, if that dam was to fail, there would be probable loss of life,” said Corey Clark, who oversees the bureau. “And here in New Hampshire, a high hazard dam … can be anything from one home being impacted or hundreds or more homes being impacted.”
Fixing New Hampshire’s state-owned dams is an expensive task
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It would take US$300 million to rehabilitate all of the high hazard state-owned dams and another US$114 million for the others, Clark told the committee. In other words, to get the state’s dams up to standards in the next 50 years, the bureau would need US$16 million annually, he said. Right now, it gets less than half that a year.
“Current revenues place the Bureau in a shortfall, extending the repair and rehabilitation schedule to 100 years,” lawmakers wrote in the report. “Considering the age, condition, and growth of development downstream from dams, this is an untenable situation which is poised to deteriorate.”
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As dams have aged, more people have simultaneously moved into the line of risk. Because of downstream development, the number of dams classified as high hazard has almost doubled since 2004, the report said. The remaining state-owned dams fall into the other risk categories: 34 classified as a significant hazard, 80 as low hazard, and 98 as non-menacing. These categories describe the risk the dams pose in the event of failure, not the actual condition of the dams.
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The average state-owned dam is more than a century old. Pawtuckaway Lake in the southeastern part of the state has four dams that were built in the mid-1800s, Clark said. Its largest dam has a wooden gate about 25 feet below the water that “hasn’t seen daylight in well over, I think, 40 years,” he said. “So, really if you look at it that way, Pawtuckaway Lake is relying on a wooden gate at the bottom that’s over 40 years old.” And it’s not the only water body relying on decades-old gates, Clark added. The flow gates on Murphy Dam in Pittsburgh are “nearing a century old; unaltered since installation in 1940,”
Much better to read full report (WITH MAP)at: https://newhampshirebulletin.com/2024/12...n-repairs/
“Each one of those high hazard dams, I mean, the risk associated, if that dam was to fail, there would be probable loss of life,” said Corey Clark, who oversees the bureau. “And here in New Hampshire, a high hazard dam … can be anything from one home being impacted or hundreds or more homes being impacted.”
Fixing New Hampshire’s state-owned dams is an expensive task
......
It would take US$300 million to rehabilitate all of the high hazard state-owned dams and another US$114 million for the others, Clark told the committee. In other words, to get the state’s dams up to standards in the next 50 years, the bureau would need US$16 million annually, he said. Right now, it gets less than half that a year.
“Current revenues place the Bureau in a shortfall, extending the repair and rehabilitation schedule to 100 years,” lawmakers wrote in the report. “Considering the age, condition, and growth of development downstream from dams, this is an untenable situation which is poised to deteriorate.”
......
As dams have aged, more people have simultaneously moved into the line of risk. Because of downstream development, the number of dams classified as high hazard has almost doubled since 2004, the report said. The remaining state-owned dams fall into the other risk categories: 34 classified as a significant hazard, 80 as low hazard, and 98 as non-menacing. These categories describe the risk the dams pose in the event of failure, not the actual condition of the dams.
......
The average state-owned dam is more than a century old. Pawtuckaway Lake in the southeastern part of the state has four dams that were built in the mid-1800s, Clark said. Its largest dam has a wooden gate about 25 feet below the water that “hasn’t seen daylight in well over, I think, 40 years,” he said. “So, really if you look at it that way, Pawtuckaway Lake is relying on a wooden gate at the bottom that’s over 40 years old.” And it’s not the only water body relying on decades-old gates, Clark added. The flow gates on Murphy Dam in Pittsburgh are “nearing a century old; unaltered since installation in 1940,”
Much better to read full report (WITH MAP)at: https://newhampshirebulletin.com/2024/12...n-repairs/
