Sussex Borough to spend $6,300 on dam inspections

SUSSEX — The Borough Council approved spending $6,300 for an outside group to prepare regular dam inspections of the Colesville Reservoir Dam, the Lake Rutherford Dam and the Clove Lake Dam at the Oct. 1. Mayor and Council meeting.

The firm of Michael Vreeland, P.E., Guerin & Vreeland Engineers, Inc., will prepare inspections of the dams.

The state Department of Environmental Protection sent Mayor Jonathan M. Rose a letter regarding dam safety and flood control on July 23. State law requires the borough’s three dams to be physically checked by an engineer every two years. The Council agreed to allocate funds for the requested engineering study.

The DEP also requested the Lake Rutherford Dam timber bridge be modified. Input will be sought from the Park Service due to possible emergency access issues.

Tree stumps will be removed at the Colesville Reservoir Dam and revisions need to be made to the engineer's analysis to determine if the Colesville Reservoir Dam is a high-hazard dam.

Rose said after the meeting the three dams in question, the Lake Rutherford Dam, Colesville Reservoir Dam, and the Clove Brook Dam, have problems caused by Superstorm Sandy and Hurricane Irene. The original hand drawn plans — from 1890 — do not hold up to the new DEP regulations that each dam must be able to withstand 34 inches of rainfall within 24 hrs.

The Lake Rutherford Dam has already been labeled a high-hazard dam by the DEP. Thus modifications to the existing dam and spillway must be made to allow for safe passage of inflow to the lake, as per dam safety standards.

On top of the safety requirements for the dams, Sussex Borough has other problems with high water and sewer costs, plus, a “ton of debt," Rose said.

SCMUA water and sewer rates cost borough residents about $420 per quarter at a minimum. Also, the borough is $8 million dollars in debt, which consumes one-third to half of its budget, while the costs of SCMUA require another one-third of the budget.

Rose said the ongoing issues regarding the dams are still looming on the horizon.