Marianna dam should be saved
The Marianna dam has been a vital asset to the community for over 100 years. The dam was first used by a coal mining company. It was also an integral part of the borough’s former water treatment facility.
Marianna has lost many assets in the last 100 years, including its coal mine, tire factory, grocery stores and gas stations, to name just a few. It’s paramount that we save the dam, since it is one of the few remaining vital assets that remain.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection last inspected the dam in June 2015. They stated the left and right abutments needed to be repaired due to deteriorated concrete and debris that needed to be removed around the right abutment. The concrete around the left abutment has since been repaired, and the debris has been removed around the right abutment. The only required repair still needing to be addressed is the right abutment.
There have been multiple grants identified to help offset the cost. In April, Marianna Borough Council made a very rash decision, deciding to remove the dam without having any pertinent facts to back up a decision of this magnitude. Thankfully, at the borough council’s May meeting, the decision to remove the dam was rescinded until more facts could be obtained. Before any decision of this magnitude is made, the borough should do cost, environmental and economic studies to determine what the repercussions would be if the dam were to be removed.
There have been claims made the dam is no longer needed. But the claim that it is no longer a critical piece of infrastructure is simply not true.
First, the dam keeps most of the debris coming downstream out of the multimillion-dollar flood control area that is 300-feet downstream. Should the additional debris the dam prevents from entering the flood control area travel downstream, it would compromise the hydraulic capacity of the flood control area and thus raise the potential for flooding downstream.
Also, EQT and Chevron have many oil and gas wells in the area. For them to continue to expand their operations, they need water lines for their wells. Marianna has been approached about using the “lake” upstream from the dam as an access point for this purpose. If the dam were to be removed, EQT and Chevron wouldn’t have an access point. The impact of this would cause approximately 300 water trucks a day to travel through Marianna to purchase the water from another community. The huge increase in traffic of these large trucks will tear up the region’s already narrow and deteriorating roads. It also is a safety issue.
There also have been claims made the dam has had a negative impact on the creek’s aquatic life, but these claims are very misleading. First, six miles downstream from the Marianna dam is the Pump Station Dam. This dam makes it difficult for fish to pass from the Monongahela River up the creek to spawn. Secondly, spawning grounds for trout and other fish occur best in oxygen-rich waterway beds. Ten Mile Creek is full of sections with rapids, not to mention the dam, that infuse oxygen into the creek. Then these portions are followed by slow water flow sections, where females can carve out a trench with their tails called a “redd” and deposit eggs to be fertilized by males. Additionally, the owner of the Pump Station Dam has stated he is willing to remove that dam so aquatic life will have unimpeded path upstream to the Marianna dam, which is a very popular fishing hole.
Another positive aspect of having the “lake” above the dam is that if the Marianna Volunteer Fire Company ever needs additional water to fight a fire, there is a ready source.
Claims have been made that Marianna was told a year ago that the dam needed to be repaired or removed. That is simply not true. During the DEP’s last inspection in June 2015, DEP officials said it needed to be repaired. The DEP never once mentioned removal.
Marianna Borough Council needs to ascertain and substantiate as many facts as they can pertaining to the dam and let the facts guide us where they will, instead of making a rash decision to remove the dam based on unproven statements. This is an emotionally-charged issue. We need to take the emotion out of this decision and let the facts be our guiding light.
Berardinelli is a Marianna councilman.