Trouble With the Great Pond Dam
Well, for you ardent Dams Keeper Report readers, the following news shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. At the request of Kennebec County’s Emergency Management Agency’s new director John Brenenstuhl, acting state dams inspector Tony Fletcher visited our Village Dam earlier this week and just sent along his findings:
The following defects were observed at the Great Pond dam on 7/25/23:
- Extensive decay of the concrete in both dams (gates).
- Settlement & misalignment of the stone spillway weir.
- Corrosion damage of steel both radial gates.
- Leaks in the vertical and horizontal gate seals.
- Concrete decay in the sides of invert of the gate 1 channel.
- Leaking gate side and bottom seals.
- Vegetation growing on the gates.
- Vegetation on the right abutment of the main dam.
Your volunteer Dams Committee is of course well aware of these issues, but it’s comforting to have our issues acknowledge by the State. That’s the good news! The bad news is that our plea for financial assistance is still falling on deaf ears. Thanks to the five subscribing towns of Belgrade, Oakland, Rome, Sidney and Mt. Vernon in our Inter-Local Dams Agreement and their valued residents, who have funded our original quote of $100,000 from Knowles Industrial Engineering, the dam has deteriorated since that quote and now will require additional funds. So, our calls have gone back out to MEMA, FEMA, and Kennebec County Emergency Management for financial support. The aforementioned all acknowledge our predicament. While no one has opened their wallets to date, we remain ever vigilant and hope that some government agency will step up to the plate.
In the meantime, your Dams Committee soldiers on! All water levels in the watershed are in excellent shape. Snow Pond is at 4.44″ below full due to their electricity generation. Great Pond is at 1.92″ above full with both gates closed to hold the water we have. Long Pond is at 2.76″ also above full with both gates also completely closed. Salmon, due to their mandated 1 cfs flow, has now dropped to 1.32″ below full pond. A harbinger of things to come? Although we are still having those scattered afternoon showers, they are currently being offset by the warm temperatures and resultant evaporation.
If you have a particular questions regarding our dams and/or water levels, please email your inquiry to dickgreenan@outlook.com, and we will try to answer your question either in this column or via email.
Enjoy the family, your vacation, and what’s left of summer!
Dick Greenan is chairman of the Belgrade Lakes Watershed Dams Committee. He submitted this report on August 3, 2023.
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