From Doug Markhams site:
I talked with Center Hill Resource Manager Tim Dun in the latter half of my radio show Saturday. Tim is busy getting ready for a lot of work to begin on the dam that sits a couple of hundred yards upstream from his office. While he won't physically be working on a project to stop the leaks in the limestone in which the dam was built, he is busy--and has been for a while-- with the administrative issues that take place before a big project begins. Center Hill Dam (and Wolf Creek Dam upstream of it in Kentucky) have both received the funding necessary to repair leaks that would eventually threaten the very foundation that supports it. The project to stop leaks has already begun on the Wolf Creek Dam, Tim said yesterday, and will begin sometime in 2007 on Center Hill. The Corps of Engineers will be injecting a grout---or something like it--into the areas on the left and right side of Center Hill Dam to fill the fissures in the limestone that allow the leaks---at least that is the way I understand it. It will take 7 years for this project to be completed. I asked Tim how this work might effect sportsmen, and he did not think--AT THIS TIME--that anglers on either side of the dam would see a large difference. He noted, however, that he could not predict what changes might occur as the project evolved. I think anglers are worried on the reservoir side of the dam that the bottom might be sucked out of the lake for years to come. What I understood from Tim was that the Corps would do its best to keep the lake level at about the same as always---it is around its winter pool at this time--and that its largest concentration would be working for stable levels versus lots of ups and downs in levels. On the top side of the dam, the narrow two-lane road will be closed to an even narrower one-lane road, and a small parking lot and recreation area will be closed to make room for the Corps crews and equipment. Regardless of what inconvenience might be caused on Center Hill or Wolf Creek, this work must be done. To not do the work could result one day in a broken dam---a "high risk" that the Corps of Engineers isn't willing to take, thank goodness. I did not ask how much the project would cost, and I should have, but whatever the cost the work must be done. You can learn more about both projects by visiting the Corps of Engineers website at
http://www.orn.usace.army.mil/ and check out the news release and the hot topics menus on the home page.
