ASHFIELD — Will the third time be the charm for Ashfield, which is seeking nearly $1 million for improvements to the dam on Ashfield Lake?
For the third year in a row, the Selectboard is applying for a MassWorks infrastructure grant of between $950,000 to $1 million that would pay for spillway improvements, masonry fixes and building up the crest of the 18-foot-tall earthen dam. The town’s past applications haven’t been approved, but Selectman Ron Coler says the work is important to keep the dam stable.
“What the town has done is a full design,” said Coler. “It’s fully permitted and shovel-ready.”
The water capacity for Ashfield Lake is about 167 million gallons of water, according to a study done for the town by Tighe & Bond in 2013. But, along with masonry fixes along the spillway the plan calls for raising the crest of the earthen dam about 6 inches, to protect the top of the dam from being eroded by wave splashes during heavy wind and rain.
“Large storm events are getting bigger and more frequent,” said Coler. “If you have wave action that reaches the earthen dam, you get a failure, because it starts eroding the earth.”
Ashfield Lake Dam has been down-graded in recent inspections, from a designation of “satisfactory” to “fair,” Coler said.
The “fair” evaluation, according to Tighe & Bond, means there are operating deficiencies but not structural ones; “Potential deficiencies exist under unusual loading conditions that may realistically occur,” says the 2013 report. The dam also has a “high hazard” classification — which has nothing to do with the dam’s physical condition. A high-hazard classification means that any failure of the dam could cause loss of life and serious damage to homes and commercial properties.
According to Coler, the dam was breached in the 1800s, taking down barns and other structures. Coler said he believes the MassWorks grants are more often awarded to projects geared toward economic improvement, but a dam breach would have a serious impact on the economy of this town of about 1,730 residents. Also, town insurance rates could rise if the dam further deteriorates.
The improvements are to include: correcting embankment seepage and tree-cutting where trees are growing to close to the embankment, repair of concrete cracks, correcting seepage through masonry joints and vegetation growing in the spillway area.