Posted on February 21, 2022
John W. Flannagan Lake is performing a deep drawdown in order to perform inspections and maintenance on the dam.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers performs a deep drawdown every 10 years in which the lake is drawn down an additional 30 feet from their normal drawdown for winter.
“The timing for this drawdown was really good because our gates needed replaced,” said Harold “Chip” Miller, John W. Flannagan Dam manager. “We’re looking at replacing old and worn-down parts on our emergency gates and our sluice gates.”
Miller said they are planning on getting the work on the emergency gates completed during the deep drawdown. After this work is completed, they will be able to perform the needed work on the sluice gates at the normal winter pool.
“Some of the parts needing maintenance are more than 50 years old,” said Miller. “We are lucky to have the repair station working on these gates.”
The Marietta Repair Station (MRS) has been tasked to do the needed work on the gates at the dam. The repair station has a wealth of knowledge and experience working inside these intake structures. Using MRS is also saving USACE a significant amount of money for the work being completed.
“In the last couple of years we have worked on more than 40 of these dams,” said David “Red” Bennett, Chief of the Marietta Repair Station. “Every single one of them is built different and provides different challenges to get the work completed.”
The deep drawdown has been scheduled for four weeks, but they are going to be flexible in order to complete the job.
“Not everything has gone according to plan,” said Miller. “However, we are accomplishing what we can.”
The staff is also fixing some other issues they have spotted during this drawdown such as replacing the grating outside of the intake structure.
“It kind of stuns and amazes me to see the end result of the work done by our staff and the MRS,” said Miller.
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