LARSEN BAY, Alaska (AP) - Residents and local officials are worried that an Alaska dam may be in danger of bursting.
State Rep. Louise Stutes said last week that the dam in Larsen Bay is “in dire straits,” the Kodiak Daily Mirror reported .
The dam, which was built by the Alaska Energy Authority in the late 1980s, is experiencing erosion of its concrete intake structure - the channel that controls water flow, city employee Bill Nelson said.
“It’s been eroding and eroding for years,” he said. “It’s going to let loose, there’s no doubt in my mind.”
Nelson said the city’s pleas for help with the dam have gone unanswered, and the spillway is increasingly unable to effectively manage the load.
A number of beaver dams upstream of the reservoir are suppressing the flow of water into the facility, keeping things manageable, Nelson said. But the beaver dams are unreliable. Five of them burst in 2011, overflowing the reservoir and sending water into the village.
“It destroyed almost everything in its path,” Nelson said, damaging roads and almost “wiping out” the cannery.
The plant provides electricity for the town of 86 residents, as well as 70 percent of the town’s potable water. An Icicle Seafoods fish processing factory that operates in a 100-year-old cannery also relies on the plant.
Nelson said repairs should begin as soon as possible to avert catastrophe and avoid even more expensive problems in the future.
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Information from: Kodiak (Alaska) Daily Mirror, http://www.kodiakdailymirror.com
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