New dam for Lake Sabbatia??

[G.Horne]

Hopefully they fix the dam and leave the water alone 


By Terence J. Downing, Enterprise staff writer
TAUNTON — Last October during the Whittenton Mills dam crisis, city officials were worried the water level at Sabbatia Lake was too high.

Now six months later, Mayor Robert G. Nunes and the City Council are concerned the water level is too low and attention has now turned to the Morey's Bridge dam.

The water level has dropped so low that sandbars are beginning to appear in sections of the man-made lake.

"People who live around the lake can't enjoy it," said Councilor Thomas C. Hoye Jr.

Officials say the problem appears to be the privately owned and controlled dam at Morey's Bridge on Bay Street.

Gates at the antiquated wooden dam control the water level at Sabbatia and affect water levels downstream in the Mill River.

The dam is owned by Jefferson Partners, the same development company that owns and controls the controversial Whittenton Mills dam downstream on the Mill River.

"It's an issue of whether or not the gates on the dam are being properly regulated," Taunton Emergency Management Agency Director Richard Ferreira said Wednesday.

Ferreira said there are two reasons why the water level has dropped so low.

The main reason is Jefferson Partners has kept the gates open throughout the winter to allow repairs to be made to the gates.

The open gates have allowed lake water to flow through. Ferreira said the water level needed to be dropped in order for repairs to be done.

He said the owners plan to close the gates, which will allow the water level to build up again.

"We have been working closely with them and they have been very responsive," Ferreira said.

The other reason for the low water level is a lack of precipitation over the winter months.

The owners have completed an engineering study that estimates the cost of overhauling the Morey's Bridge dam to be $700,000.

The dam is more than 170 years old.

They have applied for a permit to put sandbags at the bottom of the gates where some water has been escaping.

Ferreira is meeting with the owners this week for an onsite inspection and to discuss future plans for the structure.

One option is to convert the dam into a self-regulating spillway, which is what was done to the 173-year-old Whittenton Mills dam.

Ferreira said the low water level at Sabbatia became a serious concern last summer when he met with about 50 lake residents.

But the picture changed entirely in October when nearly 13 inches of rain fell in one week causing the Whittenton Mills dam to buckle, threatening to send a wall of water into the city. Flooding also affected property around the lake.

During the dam crisis, careful regulation of the gates at Morey's Bridge dam by firefighters was necessary.

[G.Horne]

Heres a follow up story on the dam



TAUNTON - The worries expressed by city councilors over the decreasing water levels in Lake Sabbatia are unfounded, said Bay Street resident and avid boater Gerry O'Bara.


The level, O'Bara said yesterday, was purposely drawn down during the winter in an attempt to kill weeds along the shore line. It's an approach that has worked in other lakes and may work here as well.

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"It doesn't cost anybody anything," O'Bara said. "It was worth a try."


Councilor Thomas C. Hoye Jr. voiced concern during Tuesday's meeting that the shrinking levels in the man-made lake will have an adverse impact on summer recreation, but O'Bara, who has lived near the lake for 24 years, said the water levels are already increasing now that the Morey's Bridge dam has been repaired.


Hoye requested a report on the status of the dam from the operator, but those involved with monitoring the wooden structure say the damaged and failing gates have been fixed.


"The owner of the dam has indicated that the repairs have been made," said Richard E. Ferreira, director of the Taunton Emergency Management Agency.


Ferreira said the gates that regulate water flow through the 173-year-old dam were "structurally unsound" and have been deteriorating for years.


O'Bara added that he speaks regularly with one of the owners and he has been satisfied with the work being done.


"The people who own the dam now are the most cooperative people I've ever had to deal with," O'Bara said. "I think they're putting an honest effort into correcting the problems they inherited there."


Ferreira will meet with dam owners Jefferson Development Partners Friday to discuss and possibly inspect the repairs.


The Morey's Bridge dam and the Whittenton Street dam have had three owners in the past six years. Jefferson Development purchased the Whittenton Mills property, including the two ancient dams, three months before the October dam crisis.


The Whittenton Street dam was in the national spotlight when city officials announced timbers were buckling and threatening downtown Taunton with floodwaters. After a week of waiting, the wooden dam was replaced with stone and the old structure was ripped out.


Morey's Bridge dam did not get the focus of its down river cousin, but a state dam report from 1998 did rate the structure in poor condition citing the gates as the primary problem

[Bass&Ice65]

Gregg that dam has to be replaced I just hope it doesn't affect the fishing!


Keith (This is my summer nickname lol)