Watkins Mill Dam Rehab Project First in Missouri

the Watkins Mill dam re-hab. project

Thanks to the NRCS Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Program and the State of Missouri, the Watkins Mill dam that creates a 100-acre lake in Watkins Woolen Mill State Park and State Historic Site is the first in Missouri to be rehabilitated. 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. “We’re not rehabilitating the dam because it’s about to fail.” says Harold Deckerd, NRCS Assistant State Conservationist, “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.” Dams may need rehabilitating if pipes or other parts of the structures show signs of deterioration or if a dam’s hazard classification changes.

Visit the NRCS Missouri web site.

About 950 dams have been constructed in Missouri through the watershed program. 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 in Missouri qualify for rehabilitation under the NRCS watershed program.

The watershed program, created in 1954, allows NRCS, 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 move people out of danger by buying their flood-prone property.
Your contact is Harold Deckerd, NRCS Assistant State Conservationist, at 573-876-0912. or harold.deckerd@mo.usda.gov.