Concerns flow over Pinicon Ridge Park Dam’s future

CENTRAL CITY - When the Pinicon Ridge Park Dam on the Wapsipinicon River was completed in 1967, it created more recreational opportunities upstream.

But now that the dam is at the end of its 50-year life span, the question facing its owner, Linn County Conservation, is: What becomes of it now?

The barrier is of one of 192 low-head dams on major rivers in Iowa, according to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Originally built for a variety of purposes including running mills, generating power and creating recreational possibilities, low-head dams have come under scrutiny for ill effects on the environment and water quality, and safety.

'If you look at this dam, I don't think anybody is going to say that it's imminent that it's ready to fall apart or anything, but it seems prudent to talk about what the options are,” said Dennis Goemaat, deputy director of Linn County Conservation.

Projects to modify low-head dams have been taking place throughout Iowa in recent years to eliminate safety hazards, increase water quality of streams and rivers, improve aquatic life or provide different recreational opportunities.

Most recently in Linn County, the Buffalo Creek Dam near Coggon is being dismantled and replaced by rock arch rapids.

Last Wednesday, the Conservation Board held an open house to receive public input on the Pinicon Ridge Park Dam. Some of the concerns brought up there included fishing and safety.

'I'm looking for improvements for fishing opportunities and just the fishes' ability to travel and making the habitat (of the river) better in general,” said Austin Hills of Center Point, who frequently uses the Wapsi for fishing.

'We're really looking for the Central City community and Linn County citizens to try to help us decide what direction we go,” said George Kanz, a member of the Linn County Conservation Board. 'Whatever we do, we want to try and meet the community's expectations and make them happy because really they're the ones that are using it.”

COST CONCERNS

Dam modifications can vary widely in cost, depend on the size of the dam and river and the surroundings.

Efforts to dismantle the Buffalo Creek Dam have been estimated to cost nearly $1 million.

The Iowa DNR said it won't be able to fund dam modification projects this year amid a tighter-than-expected state budget.

'The legislators did not fund our typical appropriation we usually get, about $1 to $2 million a year, so a lot of these projects that people are wanting to do, the state is not going to be able to directly fund them with money. But we can assist them with technical expertise with what kind of projects should be there, design work, stuff like that,” said Glenn Harman, river program environmental specialist with the Iowa DNR.

Goemaat said that if a modification project is decided upon, some potential funding sources include tapping into a $40 million conservation bond approved last fall by Linn County voters; county capital improvement dollars; and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service money for projects dealing with fish passage.

LOW-hEAD HISTORY

These low-head dams served a variety of purposes when they were originally built.

'We generally think of dams like the Hoover Dam, which is a high hazard dam for generating electricity. But in Iowa there are a lot of what are called low-head dams that were put in when the settlers first came here to mill grain or run a saw mill,” Harman said. The Pinicon Ridge Park Dam was built to create an impoundment for recreation upstream.

But most low-head dams in Iowa have outlived their intentions.

'These things are dangerous, they're deteriorating, they serve no purpose anymore,” Harman said.

SAFETY WORRIES

According to the Iowa DNR, the term 'drowning machine” is used to describe the situation created when water flows over a low-head dam. As water flows over the dam, it drops into the waters below and creates a backwash or current. This recirculating current can hold in an object, even a boat, indefinitely and can be impossible for even an expert swimmer to escape.

Low-head dams might not appear dangerous, but they can be deceiving. According to the nonprofit Iowa Whitewater Coalition, dam-related incidents in Iowa have claimed more than 160 lives since 1900 - but none of them at the Pinicon Ridge Park Dam.

ECOLOGICAL EFFECTS

Another concern about the Pinicon Ridge dam is its effect on the ecology of the Wapsi. The dam limits the connectivity of the river, which causes concerns over water quality and diversity of the ecosystem.

'Aquatic organisms in a river are used to moving up and down a stream, and that's the way the ecology is supposed to work. This is a closed door for them,” Goemaat said. 'There is one endangered species downstream called Higgins eye pearlymussel that is federally endangered. We do have a reasonably good population downstream, but nothing upstream.”

Harman said low-head dams also can harm local water quality.

'The river function is altered tremendously by these dams,” Harman said. 'We have a huge issue with water quality and people really don't equate water quality with river connectivity, but they do go hand in hand. If we don't have that free flow of sediment-holding nutrients, then we can't start to improve water quality. If we don't have the river actively supporting a diverse wildlife population, then the water quality is not going to improve either.”

RECREATION ISSUES

Recreationists have more mixed opinions on the structures.

For some fishermen, the Pinicon Ridge Dam is ideal for fishing as it is.

'Some fishermen actually kind of like this because it is a closed door, so the fish come up to a point here and they can't go any further so they do congregate at certain times of the year,” Goemaat said.

However, the low-head dam limits other recreational activity on the Wapsi like boating and tubing. Some other low-head dams around the state have been modified in recent years for recreational use. In Charles City and Manchester, dams were modified into white-water parks for kayakers and tubers.

'Tubers like that, but then the fisherman say there is going to be too much activity and it's going to ruin our fishing,” Goemaat said. 'There are just lots of considerations.”

WHAT'S NEXT

The Conservation Board does not have a date set for when it would like to have a working plan. Wednesday's open house was a preliminary meeting to start the conversation.

'There is no forgone conclusions on what should be done or shouldn't be done at this point. We are very early in what is likely to be a multiyear process,” Goemaat said.

l Comments: (319) 368-8538; elianna.novitch@thegazette.com