CLEARFIELD – Members of three organizations met on Tuesday morning to hear about federally mandated changes to Montgomery Run Dam.
Members of Clearfield Borough Council and Clearfield Borough administration, the Clearfield Municipal Authority and the Department of Environmental Protection met to discuss the mandated spillway change.
According to Tom Bold of the DEP Montgomery Run Dam is a high hazard dam. The dam, owned by the Clearfield Municipal Authority, was classified in the 1970s as a marginally deficient dam. It has recently been reclassified as a grossly deficient dam.
Bold said that it is his understanding that the spillway is inadequate. The problem revolves around a high rainfall in a certain time period. According to Todd Banks of Stiffler McGraw & Associates, engineers for the borough, that rainfall amount would be 35.7 inches in 72 hours.
By the old numbers, the flood number was over 26,000 cubic feet per second. The new number is around 53,000 Montgomery Run Dam’s spillway dumps about a quarter of that number.
That rainfall calculation was set by the federal government in conjunction with the National Weather Service.
Clearfield Borough Operations Manager Leslie Stott asked if that kind of rainfall had ever occurred in Clearfield County. Bold said he was unsure.
Bold indicated that over the last 30 years, nothing has been done to enhance the spillway.
One of the biggest issues raised by representatives of Clearfield Borough and the CMA was funding for the project.
The proposed project is slated to cost around $7.5 million.
Bold said that there are H2O grants available. That grant is a competitive grant focused on water-based infrastructure projects. Bold indicated that projects were currently being ranked for the H2O grants.
One person present indicated that grants would be the only way to fund the project.
“The constituents simply cannot afford a raise in the rates,” said Stott.