Wabash group lowers water in lake behind dam

The Wabash River Conservancy District in August lowered the water level by 16 inches in a lake behind a dam near Eldora Speedway after clearing sediment blocking a water release gate on the dam.

The matter was discussed during a recent conservancy meeting, reported the group's secretary Lil Knapke. Conservancy members used a router to clear the blockage, she said.

Darke County Engineer Jim Surber contacted conservancy president Wally Broering on June 30 to request the roughly 25-acre lake be drawn down after two McFeely-Petry Road residents complained about being trapped in their homes during heavy rains and flooding.

Broering said in July that the road floods occasionally.

Surber said the flooding has become more serious and more common in recent years.

Conservancy members learned of the sediment blockage last fall during the annual dam inspection completed by Pat Ernst of the Natural Resources Conservation Service but were not told to fix it immediately, Broering had said. Broering also earlier said the conservancy may implement an annual spring drawdown of the lake to reduce flooding.

Established in 1958, the conservancy maintains three dams built in the early 1960s to help control agricultural and residential flooding in the Cranberry Prairie and Burkettsville areas. The first dam is south of Eldora in Darke County and is the only one that contains water year-round; the second is on Watkins Road between Township Line and Post roads in Mercer County; and the third is on the east side of State Line Road, south of Barger Road in Mercer County.

Also during their recent meeting Knapke said Broering reported that conservancy members had,

• recorded video inside the outlet pipe at dam 1 and inside the outlet pipe at dam 2. The footage will be sent to Ernst, who recommended the conservancy record the inside of the pipes. During the 2014 annual dam inspection, Ernst said he could see some 1-inch holes where the pipe at dam 2 had rusted through. He said he could see into the pipe only about 10 feet. The pipe is about 100 feet long, Broering had said.

• removed 50 logs from dam 1 on Aug. 19 after flooding in June and July.

• caulked six expansion joints on the cement culvert at dam 1. The culvert drains water from the lake and into the plunge pool at the dam.

• cleared brush and logs from dam 3.

• learned the annual inspection of the three dams will be Oct. 20. Officials from the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Mercer and Darke counties and Grand Lake Wabash Watershed Alliance Coordinator Abbey Tobe will attend.

The next conservancy meeting will be at 9:30 a.m. Jan. 9 at the Gibson Township building in Fort Recovery.