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High Hazard Norway Dam Needs Inpsection

September 04, 2011 - Norway— Though not at risk of imminent collapse, the Norway Dam is among hundreds in the state that are far overdue for a full safety inspection.

The dam is one of several that was cited as a potential danger in a report from the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting (MCPIR).

According to Assistant State Dam Inspector Nick Ciomei, he and his colleague, Tony Fletcher, lack the manpower to evaluate the state's long list of potentially-hazardous dams.

"We don't have the funding," he said. "To do the dams in Aroostook [alone] it would take at least a month or two."

According to Ciomei, there simply isn't enough staff to visit all the dams in the state.

Before this year, the help was even more scarce.

Since the mid-1990s, there has only been one state dam inspector – Fletcher – to inspect the nearly 800 dams in the state. Of those, 100 dams are classified as high-and signifant-hazard.

Ciomei said that this shortage explains why the Norway Dam has no record of ever being inspected.

In a report to the Maine Dam Safety Program, Fletcher wrote that the program "is critically short of resources, and the task of hydrological validation has become more and more pressing, especially in the light of recent dam failures in the state."

Among the hundreds of dams in Maine that need work, 24 of them have been classified as "high-hazard potential," according to Ciomei.

The Norway Dam falls into this category.

"It doesn't mean it's going to fall down anytime soon," he said. "It's just at higher risk to fall down."

According to Ciomei, the state's hazard ratings on the dams don't rely on the dam's condition; a high-hazard potential means that the dam has the potential to "probably cause loss of life."

By contrast, significant-hazard dams are those that could cause possible property or environmental damage, according to Ciomei.

"It's the fact where it's built. If there were to be a flood, it would be a threat," he said.

Significant hazard dams cited in the MCPIR report include the North Pond Dam in Buckfield and the Estes Bog #5 in Poland.

Bonnie Seames, Norway Emergency Management Agency (EMA) director, said that all in-town streets could be affected by the dam's failure, beginning at Water Street where the dam is located, and traveling as far as Sanborn Circle on Route 26 in Norway — a distance of nearly two miles.

"Exactly 294 buildings could be hit," she said.

Holt agrees there could be some property damage, including basement flooding of residents living downstream. "More so in the springtime when there are ice blocks and heavy rain," he said.

"It depends on the amount of water that would be coming through at the time," said Seames.

The state requires that each dam be inspected at least twice a year; some require four inspections a year.

Norway Town Manager David Holt said he does not recall any recent dam inspections; rather he remembers that 10 to 15 years ago, the town did some reconstruction to the gate after aging caused it to slip off its track.

"I don't see it giving way for a very long time," he said.

Holt said that town officials are in the beginning stages of writing an emergency plan that would address the dam's current issues and serve as the town's guide to safety should the dam give out in the near future.

According to Holt, even without a gate, there would be obvious flooding, but the consequences of the flood would not be life-threatening.

"If we get a lot of rain, it can cause some problems downstream, but I don't believe that [the dam] currently puts people at risk."

During a recent visit to the Norway Dam, Ciomei spotted no indications that the dam was posing an immediate threat to the surrounding residents.

He said, however, if the dam doesn't get inspected soon, the town could experience some problems.

Reports by MEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers in 2009 show that both dams are between four and five years overdue for inspection. According to the report, North Pond and Estes Bog are of significant-hazard, "where failure or misoperation results in no probably [sic] loss of human life but can cause major economic loss, environmental damage, or disruption of lifeline facilities," as noted on the report.

Though Ciomei said the Norway Dam is in generally good condition, it certainly requires an inspection in order to ensure the safety of those living and working on Main Street below.

"Our goal and mission is to get to as many dams as possible," confirmed Ciomei, "but it might take awhile."

Kayla Collins, Advertiser Democrat, September 2011


Lakes: Pennesseewassee Lake
Regions: Sebago


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