WESTFIELD—The city is moving one step closer to the possible removal of the Tekoa reservoir dam in Montgomery.
Westfield City Council’s natural resources committee gave a unanimous affirmative vote to accept a $163,000 grant from the state to commission a study on the Tekoa reservoir dam last night, moving the process on to the council’s finance committee. The grant, if it is accepted by full city council, will merely OK a study on the removal of the dam and whether or not its removal would be feasible.
Westfield Department of Public Works (DPW) director David Billips said that the removal of the dam would be a wise decision due to safety concerns.
“I’m worried that the dam would fail,” Billips said. “Another reason we want to remove it is for the safety of people walking on the dam; it’s about 30 feet high.”
And according to Billips, walking on the dam is prohibited but apparently ignored.
David Billips, director of Westfield Department of Public Works
Billips was clear though, that in spite of what may have been on the natural resources committee’s docket—which said that this measure was for the removal of the dam—this measure was actually to commission and fund the study needed on the feasibility of removing the dam.
“This isn’t to take the dam down, this is a study to look at removing the dam,” he said. “And it’s 100 percent grant, no money needed from the city.”
Additionally, Billips said that the committee and city council has to act on the grant quickly, since the state will rescind its offer by June 30.
With the removal of the dam, Billips said that it would put “things back to its natural state,” meaning that Moose Meadow Brook, which was dammed off for the reservoir in 1874, would possibly flow with more water.
Billips is concerned that if the project does not move forward, the dam will inevitably fail in the future, which could cause significant damage.
“It is going to fail someday,” he said. “It may not be a loss of life but it will be costly.”
The reservoir was previously used by Westfield to provide drinking water to its residents, but it was permanently put offline due to water quality issues in 1974.
