Dam owner Donald Neilson has asked the state Department of Environmental
Protection for permission to breach the dam. The privately owned granite and
concrete dam is located downstream from the dead end of
"Our mission is to preserve the Indian Head Dam for now and for the future. The DEP wants to remove all the privately held dams on the Perkiomen Creek," said Dan Small, a co-coordinator of the recently formed Indianhead Watershed Association of Lower Providence. "Not all dams are alike."
Small said the 5-foot high dam and the water held behind it was a "haven for birds of prey. There is a bald eagle and two fledglings. It has been there for two years. It isn't going anywhere. This is a jewel of an eco-system."
Small argued that nearby Green Lane Reservoir in western
Supervisors chairman W. Douglas Hager said the "state should take
responsibility for this dam. That's where the responsibility lies."
Neilson is one of four dam owners on the Perkiomen Creek who have asked the
state DEP for permission to breach their dams. On-going maintenance expenses
and the costs of liability insurance for the dams are two major issues for the
dam owners, said Dan Tredinnick, press secretary for the Pennsylvania Fish
& Boat Commission.
All counties in
By comparison, an individual owner's liability is unlimited and therefore liability insurance rates are high.
"We need your support," Small told the supervisors. "Please make
a resolution that the township supports preserving the dam."
The president of the commission urged
"You are at the mercy of various agencies," Fish & Boat Commissioner Richard W. Czop said. "It behooves you to keep things in your back yard."
Czop, a surveyor and consulting engineer for Czop/Specter Inc. of Worcester, said the commission assesses aquatic conditions and the DEP "decides on environmental conditions," when private dam owners seek permission to remove dams.
The commission helps dam owners apply for monetary grants to either tear down or repair deteriorating dams, Czop said.
Hager proposed the advisory committee with township engineer John O. Chambers, township solicitor Robert Kerns and several residents as members.
Township manager Joseph C. Dunbar Friday afternoon said he would suggest including planning and development director Michael Siegel and public works director David H. Shaffer Jr. on the committee. It was not clear whether the committee would have a supervisor liaison member.
"We should educate the DEP on the value of the dam," Hager said Thursday night.
"There is something we can do," said Supervisor Jim Dougherty.
Zoning Hearing Board chairman Richard Brown suggested the advisory committee should be formed as the Indianhead Dam Municipal Authority to facilitate the township purchase of the dam. Brown volunteered to serve on the authority.
Carl Rotenberg can be reached at crotenberg@timesherald.com or 610-272-2500,
ext. 350
Group
hopes to turn tide
By: CARL ROTENBERG, Times Herald Staff
LOWER
The
residents' group, which does not have a name yet, met outside
organizer Harry Hall's
Another meeting to select committees and publicize the group will be
held at
"We're trying to find some way to save this dam," Hall said.
Members of the group live on Tyson Mill and Arcola roads in
"One of our concerns is fire protection. We have no fire hydrants down here," Hall said. "We don't want to lose a pristine area."
The granite-and-concrete dam, located just downstream from the dead end
of
Neilson also owns a 6-acre parcel connected to the dam on the
Residents living on both sides of Perkiomen Creek want to preserve the dam to keep the stream flow at its current volume.
"When the Goodrich dam (on the Perkiomen Creek) was torn down in mid-June, the water level went down about one third," Small said.
"The Indianhead Dam is from the 1700s. It is made from granite rock from the wall behind it and concrete," Small said. "Even the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has recognized the dam was solid."
"We have enjoyed boating and swimming on the creek for years. If they tear the dam down, the water level would go down 5 feet," Donahue said.
"A whole ecosystem will be destroyed. We've seen river otters there,"
the 20-year
Vincent Humenay, an engineer in the DEP dam safety program, met with the owner of the Indian Creek Dam and the owners of three other Perkiomen Creek dams June 15, DEP spokesman Charlie Young said.
The dams included the Indianhead Dam, the Rosman Dam, owned by Nancy Rosman and the Montgomery County Parks and Heritage Services; the Kratz Dam, owned by the county Parks and Heritage Services and an unnamed dam owned by Schwenksville borough, Young said.
"All of the owners requested our assistance in removing their dams," Young said. "If you own a dam and someone is injured on it or killed, you can be held financially liable.
"Normally, owners who request our assistance are feeling the financial burden."
Young said DEP would draft dam-removal plans for each dam within two to three months and publicize them for a 30-day public comment period.
He said there was "a likelihood there will be a public meeting" for the Indianhead Dam "because of the public interest."
Funding from state and federal sources would pay for dam removal costs. The cost to remove a dam ranges from $75,000 to $150,000, depending on the size of the project, Young said.
There have been three meetings, including on-site inspections, for the removal of the Kratz Dam this year with DEP and interested parties.
"My personal feeling is there are communities that would be dying to have what we have here," Small said about the Perkiomen Creek.
Hall, a 45-year resident of
"The boat launch area would go to dry land," Hall said. "You will drop the level of the Perkiomen by 5 to 6 feet."
Carl Rotenberg can be reached at crotenberg@timesherald.com or 610-272-2500, ext. 350.
http://www.timesherald.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=14974427&BRD=1672&PAG=461&dept_id=33380&rfi=8
By:
There
must be a solution to the possible removal of the Indianhead Dam
on the Perkiomen Creek.
We
certainly understand the liability involved in owning a dam. But
wouldn't it be better for the environment if the townships, county or
state
could take it over rather than remove it? The Perkiomen Creek is the
boundary
line between Upper and
Not too long ago the Goodrich Dam, also located on the Perkiomen Creek,
was
removed. Since then, water levels have dropped tremendously. If dams
along the
creek continue to be removed, the wildlife currently associated with
the
waterway will also dry up. Fish will not be able to make their way
along the
creek bed because the water levels will be too low and eventually the
stock
will dwindle. One resident along the dam said he has seen otters in the
creek.
We can't imagine them surviving for long in two or three feet of water.
What
will happen to the fowl that normally make their way from place to
place along
waterways?
Removing the dam to remove liability is the owner's prerogative, and
we're
certain the townships or the county or the state, do not want to take
on the
liability, but perhaps some type of accord could be reached to reduce
the
liability. It is a shame that we have become such a litigious society
that the
owner of a dam can be held liable because someone accidentally
drowns.
We understand there are some aggressive attorneys who may want to argue
otherwise, but we believe a greater good would be served if the dam
remains.
If it was deemed illegal to boat or swim in the creek, the liability
issue
should be, if not eliminated, at least greatly reduced. Perhaps then
the
townships, county or state could take out enough insurance, at a
reasonable
rate, to cover themselves in the event of a tragedy.