‘SENSE OF URGENCY’
Dam failure would cause flooding along Schuylkill River
The can has been kicked down the road long enough, Reading Area Water Authority Executive Director Bill Murray said.
Now is the time to move on the long-proposed upgrades to Ontelaunee Dam.
“The sense of urgency is heightened due to the environmental changes brought on by upstream development,” Murray said.
Completed in 1933 by damming the Maiden Creek, Ontelaunee is not in immediate danger of failing, Murray said. However, a 2016 study showed the dam needs about $13 million in upgrades to strengthen it and bring it to DEP standards.
Should the dam fail, the rush of water into the
“Should the dam fail, RAWA would cease operations. Our treatment plant and pumping stations would be destroyed. It would take months, maybe years to replace the buildings and equipment.”
— Reading Area Water Authority Executive Director Bill Murray
Schuylkill River would inundate communities from Leesport downstream as far as Phoenixville, he said.
The problem is exacerbated by development upstream, Murray said. The increase in impervious surfaces causes more run off to swell the river and its tributaries.
Under these conditions, he said, water also could be forced upstream at the confluence of the Maiden Creek and Schuylkill River, causing damage to areas as far north as Shoemakersville.
The manmade lake, largely in Maidencreek and Ontelaunee townships, belongs to the city and is leased to RAWA.
It provides water to RAWA’s customers in the city and Kenhorst, and parts of Bern, Cumru, Lower Alsace, Muhlenberg and Ontelaunee townships.
Three possibilities
A $1.3 million study in 2016 found three areas of concern.
The aging dam could overturn, meaning it would flip over, or it could slide to the left or right. There also is the possibility of a breach, which means a hole could develop in the dam.
Murray updated the RAWA board last month on the status of the upgrade project, which has not changed since he briefed City Council last year.
A sudden dam failure would be catastrophic, he said, noting 30.9 million gallons flow over the dam and into the Maiden Creek, a tributary of the Schuylkill River, on a normal day.
“Should the dam fail, RAWA would cease operations,” he said. “Our treatment plant and pumping stations would be destroyed. It would take months, maybe years to replace the buildings and equipment.”
To prevent possible dam failure and catastrophic flooding, the study’s engineers recommend reinforcing the dam’s riprap on the lake side and pouring a thick layer of stepped concrete on the earthen downstream side.
The 2016 study estimated the improvements would cost about $12.9 million, Murray said, and would bring the dam up to current DEP standards.
However, RAWA is not under any orders from the state to fix the dam and there are no state deadlines for the upgrades, John Repetz, DEP community relations coordinator, wrote in an email.
“DEP is working with RAWA to assess the full condition of the dam and then develop plans for rehabilitation and upgrade,” Repetz said.
Finding funding
To keep from dipping into its savings for the upgrades, RAWA is exploring possible funding sources, including a new program aimed at lower-income and minority communities.
“There is state funding available for water infrastructure for disenfranchised and underserved communities,” Murray said. “Reading definitely fits that description.”
Pennsylvania is slated to get $240.4 million in federal water infrastructure funding.
The funding, announced late last year, will be directed toward upgrading aging water infrastructure.
Murray also hopes the city will direct some of its American Rescue Plan funds toward the dam.
The city has already received half of the more than $61 million it will get from the plan passed by Congress last year. The rest of the funds are expected by the end of March.
If the cost of upgrading the dam falls wholly onto RAWA, it will be passed onto customers in the form of higher rates, Murray said.
And the estimate likely has only increased since 2016.
Newspaper reports at that time were not precise in saying RAWA had set aside $19 million for the dam upgrades, Murray said.
The figure was only $9 million, he said, noting the money was part of the $75 million RAWA borrowed between 2008 and 2016 for infrastructure projects.
More than $53 million of that money was spent on projects such as extending a water main to Union Township and creating a water system for the Berks 78 industrial park, the Reading Eagle reported in 2016.
The remaining money was used for other projects, Murray said, such as dredging a section of the lake, replacing filtering equipment at the water treatment plant and other equipment upgrades as well as emergency repairs to the dam.
Close call
The dam was damaged in 2020 when Tropical Storm Isaias hit the region, Murray said, but it held and was subsequently repaired.
The lake’s water level generally runs a foot or less above the dam breast, he said, but during Isaias it rose almost four feet above it, its highest recorded level.
“We were one tenth of an inch from overflow,” Murray said.
Although the lake level topped a foot lower during the remnants of Hurricane Ida last year, Murray said, the Schuylkill River was swollen to an all-time high, causing more flooding downstream.
The project should be deferred no longer, he said.
“We’ve done our homework,” Murray said. “Now we are bringing everyone to the table.”