Published: July 21, 2009 10:34 pm      

Savage River dam repairs may be complete by March

BLOOMINGTON — If everything goes as planned, four gates at Savage River Dam will be repaired by March, the trophy trout fishery in the tailwaters won’t be damaged and water users in Westernport won’t notice any change at their faucets.

That was the combined message of speakers at a public hearing at the Bloomington Fire Hall on Tuesday afternoon conducted by the Maryland Department of the Environment that was aimed at informing the public and accepting their comments about the $6 million project.

The hearing was part of the legal process instigated by a request in May from the Upper Potomac River Commission to repair faulty release gates at the bottom of the dam.

Jim McCarthy, speaking for the engineering firm of Hazen and Sawyer, which designed the repair project, said the reservoir’s water level will be lowered starting in October. Drainage will continue until mid-November, when the surface level will reach 1,410 feet elevation.

“That will allow access to the two downstream gates,” McCarthy said.

Earlier Tuesday, a prebid meeting was conducted to find a firm to install the gates, which are being manufactured by Steel-Fab Inc. of Fitchburg, Mass. Bids will be opened Aug. 11.

The two downstream gates and two gates on what can be considered the business side of the dam are to be replaced. Those upstream gates will not be accessible until the reservoir is completely drained, which McCarthy said should happen in December.

The water moving through the reservoir bed will stay at run-of-river until the work is done, in March or April. “Run-of-river means that however much water comes into the reservoir is how much water will go out through the dam,” McCarthy said.

“The existing gates are corroded and at the end of their useful lives,” he added.

MDE official Harald Van Aller, of the Dam Safety Division, said the construction of the dam began in 1939, languished during World War II and resumed until completion in 1952. “The dam has paid for itself many times over,” Van Aller said, referring to floods such as the two that took place in 1996.

Don Cosden, speaking for the Maryland Fisheries Service, said there will be no attempt to salvage fish from the reservoir, that the effort would be costly, perhaps dangerous and not efficient.

“I expect most of those fish to go downstream. You may be fishing for them right out here,” Cosden said, pointing out a window at the North Branch of the Potomac River, into which the Savage River flows.

Important game fish in the reservoir include largemouth and smallmouth bass, black crappie and yellow perch.

When these fish move downstream, they will join with brown and brook trout in a specially managed stretch of river.

Cosden said he expects the trout to feel the impacts of the drainage, but not be eliminated. Fishing regulations will not be changed during the dam repairs, he said. The fact that work is to be started and completed during the cold weather months lessens the possibility that trout will face high water temperatures that they may not survive.

Scott Shoemaker, who manages the dam for the river commission, said run-of-river flows during the winter months can range from less than 10 cubic feet per second to hundreds of cfs.

Contact Michael A. Sawyers at msawyers@times-news.com.