Repairs are necessary at Echo Dam; but the structure is stable, and corrective work will be much less expensive than originally anticipated.
“A stability test conducted by S&ME confirmed the dam is stable,” Seven Lakes Landowners Association [SLLA] Vice President Don Fentzlaff told The Times, “and, as a result, NCDNR [Department of Natural Resources] has downgraded the timing of the repairs.”
S&ME is the Association’s dam engineer.
“At this point, we are just waiting for S&ME to provide a proposal as to what needs to be done,” Fentzlaff said.
That proposal will most likely include repair work to plug four existing drainage pipes installed at the dam in 1985, as well as repairing areas around the catch basins to eliminate erosion.
The area around the original manhole at the base of the dam will also be drained, and a new toe drain will be installed.
These repairs will not require removing the protective rip rap which was added to the dam face as part of a costly state-mandated project to eliminate seepage.
“This is not a state-mandated repair, so we do not need to rush into a repair until S&ME have completed all of their evaluations and made a full report,” Fentzlaff said.
