Despite challenges, project to repair dam continues

Johnston is going with the flow as it addresses unexpected challenges in repairing the town-owned dam at Oak Swamp.

On Sept. 14, the outflow pipe of the dam was opened for the first time in 50 years in an effort to drain the lake and begin repair work mandated by the Department of Environmental Management.

Johnston and DEM executed a consent agreement in 2013 to address significant issues at four-town owned dams, with priority repair work given to Oak Swamp beginning this year. But while the outflow pipe is now open, the lake isn’t draining as expected.

“Unfortunately, there’s an old saying, you can’t fight Mother Nature,” said Mayor Joseph Polisena, who provided an update on the repairs at Monday’s Town Council meeting. “It hasn’t really dropped as we thought it would. It’s still dropping, but not as much as the rate we needed it to drop. We found out, first of all when we did open up the dam, we thought it was an eight-inch-wide pipe, but it’s a 12-inch pipe, but it didn’t do us much good, and we’re only losing about an inch and a half, maybe an inch and a quarter of water a day.”

According to plans, the water was expected to drain at a rate of three inches per day, the maximum volume allowed per DEM regulations. The original plan was to drain the lake down to a seven-foot level from its original height by Oct. 15, but the size of the drainage pipe and recent weather conditions have prevented that.

“It’s been like a desert in the state for the past five or six months, with little rain, and now we’re getting all of the rain, so it’s been very difficult to fight with Mother Nature,” Polisena said. “With the two inches of rain we had last week the lake came up about 18 inches. So we’re supposed to drain it down to the seven-foot level, and we’re probably down about only two and a half feet.”

With winter fast approaching, the need to complete the work becomes more critical to prevent construction delays.

“I always had a ‘Plan B’ in mind, and we’re going to get the same effect. We’re going to meet the same goals, however we won’t have to drain the lake down to the seven-foot level,” Polisena told the council, adding that continuing at the current rate, it “would be basically impossible, unless we kept it open for another two or three months, and that wouldn’t be fair to the residents that live on the lake and want to enjoy their summer.”

The town plans to repair all of the areas of the dam that were washed out over the years, and install a new spillway and a new outlet valve. A fence will be installed along the dam that will prevent access by trespassers and trap blowing snow from the lake that can deposit in drifts on Reservoir Avenue.

“I plan to finish work by the end of November, and because people are starting to work on their walls and their backyards, I’d like to keep the dam open until probably the first or second week in December,” Polisena said. “I can probably almost guarantee that, even if we have a dry winter, and a dry spring, that water level will come back up.”

Oak Swamp waters were given top billing in the state in 2010 and classified as “category one,” the highest level of cleanliness. When the water level receded, however, an ugly truth was exposed below the surface.

“There are tires in the water, it’s disgusting. We’re going to use the boat that the Fire Department has and we’ll send out [the Department of Public Works] to get them,” Polisena said. “Some of the tires can be seen in about two feet of water that are hard to get to, so we’re going to do a major cleanup as there was a lot of stuff thrown in the water, bottles, cans, barrels. So that’s coming along well.”

“We actually took two truckloads of tires out of there today, and we’ll take another two out tomorrow,” DPW Director Arnold Vecchione said.

The mayor plans on holding another neighborhood meeting in about two or three weeks, with photos of the progress of the work. He plans on contacting constituents who have signed up for announcements through his office.

“I think people are going to be very, very happy knowing they will have water in the spring to fish and recreate and swim in the summertime,” Polisena said.

Residents who would like to be informed of the progress at Oak Swamp may contact the mayor’s office at 401-553-8800 to be placed on the informational contact list.