Board orders emergency action on private dam
A northeast Oklahoma City homeowners association was ordered Friday to take steps to minimize the risk that the dam holding back a neighborhood lake could fail, placing several dozen homes in peril.
In an emergency order signed by Executive Director Julie Cunningham, the Oklahoma Water Resources Board (OWRB) said erosion beneath the spillway structures posed a danger to the structural integrity of the dam.
The Lakeside Dam is on the east side of Air Depot Boulevard, north of Hefner Road. Because of the danger, Air Depot will be closed at least until Tuesday from Hefner north to NE 115 Street.
An OWRB analysis showed about 38 nearby homes are at risk, should the dam fail.
They are on Bravada Court, the west side of Slash Pine Drive and Br av ada Drive, t he west si de of Air Depot between NE 115 and NE 122, and Autumn Road between NE 109 and NE 113.
The Lakeside of Oakdale Homeowners Association had begun drawing down the lake level and was to continue the drawdown pending submittal of plans for temporary repairs and a hearing at OWRB headquarters on Wednesday.
No change in the condition of the dam was reported over t he weekend, despite overnight rains Friday and Saturday. The Oklahoma City Police Department had officers periodically checking the area.
The Lake side Dam was built in 2004-05. The earthen structure is about 2,000 feet long, 24 feet high, and 10 feet wide at the top.
It is on an unnamed tributary of the Deep Fork River.
Air Depot Boulevard runs along the west, or downstream, side of the dam. To the east, overlooking the lake behind the dam is Waters Welling Way, lined with $1 million-plus homes.
Lake side Dam' s pr in cipal spillway consists of two 24-inch concrete pipes 8 feet below the top of the dam.
The pipes carry overflow west, into culverts along Air Depot.
In its order, the OWRB said the agency's staff met at the dam with homeowners association representatives last Wednesday.
They found that the southern-most of the two spillway pipes had broken. At the time, water was flowing through both pipes.
Much of the concrete slab that makes up the emergency spillway, five feet below the top of the dam, also was damaged as a result of erosion traced to the broken pipe.
According to the order, the damage poses "an imminent danger to life and property."
The board ordered that the lake level be lowered to at least 6 feet below the bottom of the spillway pipes and be maintained there "until such time as the dam is repaired or permanently breached."