Duke could begin Dillsboro Dam demolition next week
One week after the demolition of the Dillsboro powerhouse, Duke Energy may start removing the Dillsboro Dam as early as next week.
Weather permitting, Duke plans to add rip-rap this week to support a hoe-ram, which is an attachment on the end of a trackhoe arm that works like a large-size jackhammer, according to Fred Alexander, Duke’s district manager for government and community relations.
The first step will involve using the hoe-ram to notch part of the north (powerhouse) side of the 12-foot-high dam. The power company is also preparing an access road for the equipment necessary to remove the south side of the dam, he said.
While the dam is removed – only by mechanical means – water samples will be taken above and below the dam to allow Duke to work when the sediment level is acceptable and stop until it clears up as needed, Alexander said.
Dam removal is expected to be completed by March 31, he said.
No water will be released through the former powerhouse’s generation bays during dam demolition. Instead, the reservoir level will be lowered through a series of notches in the dam that will draw down the pond level about 3 feet at a time.
The current concrete Dillsboro Dam, built in 1927 (the original dam was constructed at the same site in 1913), is the only one of Duke Energy hydroelectric power facilities on the main stem of the Tuckaseigee River.
According to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is monitoring dam removal, federal law requires operators of private hydropower dams to address impacts to fish and wildlife, and Duke’s decision to remove the dam is seen as a major part of that effort and will aid the recovery of a pair of imperiled species – the Appalachian elktoe mussel and the sicklefin redhorse fish.
“It’s not very often you get to see a dam demolished, especially a FERC-licensed hydroelectric project, but this is in the best interest of the American people,” said Mark Cantrell, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist involved with the project. “We have a rare opportunity to see the return of a stretch of river that’s been impaired for nearly 100 years. This means a lot for the fish and wildlife in that river, especially the rare Appalachian elktoe and the sicklefin redhorse.”
Read more in the print issue of The Sylva Herald
