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![NRCS This Week mast head](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20080921203003im_/http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/news/thisweek/images/mastheaddshadow3.jpg)
Watkins Mill Dam Rehab Project First in Missouri
![Watkins Mill, Missouri dam re-hab project](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20080921203003im_/http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/news/thisweek/images/damrehab.JPG)
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.
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.
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