By David Fleet
Editor
Goodrich — In January, the Goodrich Village Council along with consulting engineers from Wade Trim applied for a Dam Risk Reduction Grant from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy. The deadline was Jan. 31.
If approved, the $200,000 grant which requires a $20,000, 10% match from the village, will provide information needed to make an informed decision on the future repair, alteration or removal alternatives. In addition, the information obtained will measure the short-term and long-term reduction measures.
Keith Walworth, village council president said this is not a grant to repair the dam, rather a dam feasibility study to determine a direction.
“This is our first step to determine long-term alternatives,” said Walworth. “Once the feasibility study is complete we’ll decide what’s next for the dam.”
If approved, the feasibility study will allow the village to pursue project funding and time to implement a plan. Included will be concrete coring, soil boring and dive inspections of existing dam along with spillway evaluation, geotechnical and hydrology investigations.
“This study will assist the village in pursing funding risk reduction measures,” added Walworth. “The grants available are more achievable if the information is made available.”
Michigan Dams are inspected at least once every three years for high hazard potential dams, once every four years for significant hazard dams, and once every five years for low hazard potential.
In December 2016 Lucas Trumble, dam safety engineer of the MDEQ dam safety unit, completed the inspection. The dam was then inspected and passed in May 2020. It was reported the Goodrich dam significant hazard rating has nothing to do with condition, rather based on the downstream impact if the dam were to fail. The rating is not based on the likelihood of failure. The bus garage and a few homes downstream on the Kearsley Creek could be impacted.