County weighs options on Beaver Creek Dam repair

Hill County officials are in a quandary about what to do with a problem at Beaver Creek Dam — the gate to the drain system is malfunctioning and the county has no way to regulate additional water flow or to drain the reservoir — and how to fund its repair.

"You need money, and you have no income," said Marvin Cross, civil engineering specialist for the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation during a meeting Tuesday.

The issue is with operational problems at both the upper and lower gates on a drainage conduit at the dam. Leaks on the lower end and a malfunction in the guardian gate on the upper end are making it difficult to even find out why the guardian gate is not working.

The dam, owned and operated by Hill County, was built in 1974 using both federal funds and a county bond, which has since been paid off. The dam, which was built for flood control, irrigation water storage and recreation, provides the county about $13,000 in revenue each year through the sale of irrigation water.

That money is used to pay the dam tender, buy supplies and pay for operations and maintenance.

The guardian gate stopped working in late June, when it was opened to try to clear any debris which may have been partially blocking it and in preparation of releasing additional water if needed due to the high inflow during the flood in mid-June. The gate then crept down over a period of two days, and the mechanism to re-open it has not worked.

Dam tender Tim Herron said the gate appears to still be creeping down some, although Mark Yerger of the Federal National Resources Conservation Service said it is unlikely it will completely close.

The costs could be extreme.

Just hiring divers to look at the gate could be high. The county hired a team of divers in 2003 to inspect it, at a cost of about $25,000.

Yerger said using a pump the county could drain the reservoir, but he estimated that would cost nearly $150,000 in fuel alone.

Even hiring consultants to draft ideas on how to inspect the gate and see what the problem is could run into thousands of dollars, the group discussed.

Cross suggested the county write an inquiry letter to the NCRS, which designed the dam and helped provide some of the funding for its construction, to see if it has money available to help identify the problem and repair it.

Yerger agreed with that idea, and suggested the county do the same with DNRC.

Dur ing me e t ings he l d throughout the day, Annmarie Ro b i n s o n o f Be a r Paw Development Corp. said the county also will approach the members of its congressional delegation to see if funds could be appropr iated through Congress, although that is a long, drawn-out process.

Hill County Commissioner Mike Anderson said the county also will be working with the F e d e r a l E m e r g e n c y Management Agency to see if any funds could be available.

FEMA is working with local governments including that of Hill County to help recover from the June flooding, which led President Barack Obama to declare the region a federal disaster area.

Anderson said FEMA cannot fund disaster recovery work on facilities owned and operated by other federal agencies. Since the dam is owned and operated by the county, disaster money through FEMA could be available, however, he said.

Even if FEMA cannot fund repairs, it could help the county seek other funding, Anderson said.