COLRAIN — If grant funding continues, town officials and partners at the Connecticut River Conservancy expect construction work on the removal of the Lower Reservoir Dam and the stabilization of the riverbank next to the Colrain Fire Station to begin in 2028.
Rebecca Budd, restoration program manager at the Connecticut River Conservancy, told the Selectboard last week that the dam removal feasibility study, for which the town received a $224,100 Massachusetts Natural Resource Damages grant, is well underway.
To keep momentum going on the project, they will need to begin applying for grants to fund the engineering and design work. The Selectboard gave the go-ahead to apply for the funding through the Environment & Climate One Stop grant program.
“I’m kind of thinking 2028 for both for construction,” Budd said of the dam removal and riverbank stabilization projects. “But that depends on successful fundraising.”
Last April, the town began working with the Greenfield-based Connecticut River Conservancy to explore the feasibility of removing the Lower Reservoir Dam and stabilizing the riverbank near the Fire Station. According to the National Inventory of Dams, the Lower Reservoir Dam is 15 feet of concrete and was built in 1902. During its last inspection in 2018, it was listed as being in “fair condition” with a “significant hazard risk,” because if it were to fail, it would flood the center of town.
The dam was built to provide a water supply for the Colrain Fire Department and has not been necessary since the mid-1990s, when water pumps were installed.
Town Administrator Diana Parsons said the town can now finish the project that began more than 20 years ago with help from the state grant, which is funded by a $1.5 million settlement that the state Attorney General’s Office reached with Barnhart Manufacturing Co. following a 2019 acid spill that impacted the North River.
“The state fined Barnhardt for an acid spill that happened in the past and … they took some of that money, but they left a little bit of it for the town or agencies affiliated with the town to do work that would lead essentially to river restoration,” Parsons explained. “This is a project that, for the town, is critical. Twenty years ago, we knew there were some issues with the stabilization of that bank, and that’s continued to erode.”
Removing the dam would restore the natural flow of the water while also saving the town money on inspection and insurance costs.
Regarding the riverbank stabilization project, Budd said teams have surveyed the conditions and need to complete sediment testing before engineering work can begin. Surveys and reports on the conditions of the bank are expected to be complete by June.
“The goal for this phase was to come up with a conceptual design plan, and we’re well on the way,” Budd said. “They’re starting to work on doing the design alternatives anaylsis and expect everything to be wrapped up by June.”
Budd said if the town can secure more grant funding, it would be able to continue the design work, reach the 60% design phase and begin permitting work.
Similarly, Andrew Evans, a community specialist with RCAP Solutions, said a study on the dam will be completed within the next few weeks, and the next round of grant funding would go toward engineering the dam removal.
“What we’d be applying for is full engineering and design,” Budd said, “so we would get to the final design phase of this and then the next thing would be to apply for construction funds.”