The nearly 30-year-old dam, located at Smith Lake Park, a popular destination for soccer parents, holds back one of three reservoirs in Stafford County.
- The Stafford County Board of Supervisors approved a $100,911 contract to inspect the dam’s electrical and instrumentation systems.
Why it matters: Those systems which include gauges that are used to identify levels of pressure, flow, chemical feed rates, etc. could be obsolete or need replacement due to old age.
- Contractors would then recommend what improvements may need to be made to bring the dam up to current state and federal standards.
- The assessment will also try to determine the remaining lifespan of those systems.
- The assessment will also try to determine the cost of replacing those systems
The board approved funding for this assessment to be used from the County’s Public Works/Utility operating fund.
- The County has yet to announce who won the contract.
- County leaders did not say when the work will be complete.
The Smith Lake Dam study comes as county officials are also scrambling to fix a dam at its Able Lake Reservoir.
- An underwater flood gate got stuck in an open position in 2017, and a steel plug was put in place as a stop-gap measure to prevent water flow.
- Water is now leaking from that plug, leaving county officials left working on a fix to the problem.
