WESTFIELD – The Flood Control Commission will meet with federal regulators to discuss the rehabilitation of the city’s two flood control dams and funding available for that work.
Commission Chairman Albert G. Giguere said last night that he plans to slate a meeting with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) a division of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to discuss a grant program that provides assistance to communities to repair and upgrade flood-control structures.
The NRCS and the state Department of Recreation and Conservation (DRC) inspected the city’s Powdermill Dam and the Arm Brook Dam, both built by the Army Corps of Engineers following the Flood of 1955. The issue is that the design life of the two structures was 50 years.
Both of the earthen structures are considered high hazard dams. The federal and state inspectors determined that “both Reservoirs/Dams now require complete rehabilitation, due to their age and condition, Giguere said. “Structurally, neither poses any immediate danger, however; both are now beyond their design-age-threshold of 50 years”.
The cost of rehabilitating the two dams is estimated at between $2.5 and $3 million each to correct the substantial damage by ATVs to Powdermill Brook Dam, and removing the “extreme siltation” of the Powdermill Reservoir, because it will lend itself to a blockage of the primary-drainage tower’s intake during a flood situation, Giguere said.
“Fortunately, there is currently a USDA-NRCS Program for Rehabilitation Funding (tied to the Farm Bill), which could save the City a substantial amount of the rehabilitation costs… this would not only bring them back into compliance, but upgrade them to current Federal Standards,” Giguere said.
The NRCS program has four components including an assessment of the structures, which has been completed, a planning phase and a engineering design phase, both of which would be federally funded. The construction phase would be 65 percent federally funded, with the remaining 35 percent of the funding from the city and possible the state.
“We can request the NRCS to initiate the planning and design phase with only federal funding and bring the rehabilitation project up to the construction phase,” Giguere said. “There is no requirement that the city begin the construction phase.”
The Commission is also looking at another option, turning the two dams over to the state.
Giguere said that the vast majority of flood control structures are presently state owned, but that dams in several communities are owned by municipal governments. Some of the communities have begun a legislative process to turn the aging structures over to the state, while other communities have suggested a joint approach to package all of the dams now under municipal control and then seek legislation collectively.
Giguere said that he plans to request a meeting with the NRCS officials later this month and conduct a special meeting to discuss options.
