Watkins Mill Dam Rehab Project First in Missouri

COLUMBIA, MO, February 28, 2005 – The dam creating the 100-acre lake in Watkins Woolen Mill State Park and State Historic Site is the first in Missouri that is being rehabilitated under the Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Program administered by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

Work at the site includes raising the ends of the dam three feet, widening the emergency spillway, lowering the principal spillway riser one foot, adding a foundation drain, and placing rock on the front slope to prevent erosion. NRCS is paying about $460,000, and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources is paying about $250,000. In addition, a grant from the Missouri Department of Conservation will improve the boat access ramp.

The section of the bicycle and hiking trail on top of the dam is closed during construction, which will be completed this summer. Until the project is finished, the water level in the lake will be lower than normal and the boat ramp and fishing docks will not be useable. However, fishing continues to be allowed from the shoreline.

About 950 dams have been constructed in Missouri through the watershed program. Most of the resulting ponds and lakes are three to 10 acres. However, the lakes can be as large as 1,000 acres. The lakes and dams are designed to last 50 years or longer. Beyond that time, they may become less effective at reducing flooding as they fill with sediment from soil erosion.

Dams may need rehabilitating if pipes or other parts of the structures show signs of deterioration, or if a dam’s hazard classification changes. That’s the reason for the rehabilitation of the dam at Watkins Woolen Mill State Park and State Historic Site. The dam was constructed in 1971, when the land below the dam was primarily agricultural. Since then, residences have been constructed below the dam.

“We’re not rehabilitating the dam because it’s about to fail, it’s because people now live downstream, which changes the dam’s hazard classification, so it has to conform to a different set of design specifications,” says Harold Deckerd, NRCS assistant state conservationist. Deckerd says that, nationally, dams with changes in hazard classification are receiving funding priority.

Dick Purcell, NRCS state conservation engineer, says all of Missouri’s watershed dams have been reviewed to see if their hazard classifications should change. He says 17 dams have been identified that qualify for rehabilitation under NRCS’ watershed program.

“Seven of those dams are in Johnson and Lafayette counties,” he says. “That’s because they were built in the 60s, before urbanization of that area.”

Purcell says there is no timetable for rehabilitating the other 16 dams, primarily because of a lack of funds. NRCS pays 65 percent of the cost to rehabilitate dams, with local sponsors paying the rest. However, Purcell says the dams that are eligible for rehabilitation funds pose little danger. He says most of the dams would not even require reclassification under state regulations, but NRCS’ regulations are far more conservative than the state’s.

Deckerd says the next dam that will be rehabilitated, when the necessary funding is available, is a dry structure in Newton County. Another dam of note that is eligible for rehabilitation is the one creating Buffalo Bill Lake in DeKalb County.

The watershed program, created in 1954, allows the Natural Resources Conservation Service, at the request of local sponsors, to study watersheds and help sponsors develop plans to solve their local flooding problems. NRCS provides technical and financial assistance to carry out the plans.

Watershed projects reduce flooding, soil erosion and water pollution, and can create municipal and rural water supplies, recreational areas and wildlife habitat. The program also has been utilized to buy out flood-prone properties and move people out of harms way. A watershed is the land that water flows across or under on its way to a stream, river or lake. Every location is within a watershed.

Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Program in Missouri

Missouri Department of Natural Resources

Missouri Department of Conservation

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