SHUTESBURY — Preliminary work related to repairs to the Lake Wyola Dam can begin using a $41,325 grant awarded through the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs’ Dam and Seawall Repair or Removal Program.
The grant was recently announced as part of more than $10.9 million that will go toward repair or removal of aging dams, seawalls, levees and other critical infrastructure across the state. Other recipients in Franklin County are the Connecticut River Conservancy, which was awarded $180,000 to begin planning and designing the partial demolition of the Electric Light and Power Dam in Greenfield, and Mass Audubon, which secured $462,552 for removal of the Bowen’s Pond Dam in Wendell.
For Shutesbury, the money will support wetland delineations, a dam-seepage investigation, engineering drawings, permit applications and construction documents for the dam, formally known as the Raymond “Red” Moriarty Dam and located at the intersection of Locks Pond and Lakeview roads.
“This award will strengthen Lake Wyola’s defense against stormwater erosion,” Town Administrator Hayley Bolton wrote in an email on behalf of the Selectboard. “The town thanks the Healey-Driscoll Administration, the Lake Wyola Stormwater Erosion Task Force and all involved in helping to secure this funding.”
The actual project, according to information provided by the state, includes clearing vegetation and debris downstream of the spillway, repairing the grout in the dam’s low-level outlet to mitigate leakage, repairing voids and replacing missing stones in the downstream masonry wall, and making various concrete repairs along the primary spillway’s training wall, crest and apron.
An inspection completed by GZA GeoEnvironmental Inc. in May shows the dam is in fair condition — the same rating it received two years earlier. The dam is classified by the state Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Office of Dam Safety as a large dam with high hazard potential.
GZA GeoEnvironmental Inc. provided estimates of studies, analyses and minor repairs at a cost of between $260,000 and $340,000.
The dam was last rehabilitated in 2008, with riprap repair, tree stump removal, dam crest improvements with a concrete slab to allow for safe overtopping, concrete repair of spillway training walls and installation of a seepage monitoring weir.
Previously, repairs happened following the hurricane of 1938, while a new slide gate was installed in 1990.