LANCASTER – Business owners are excited that boating could resume at Buckeye Lake in June under an expedited construction schedule that would allow for raising the water close to the normal summer level.
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The Ohio Department of Natural Resources confirmed the faster construction plan on Tuesday after officials from Gannett Fleming, the engineering firm chosen by the department to design the new dam, shared details with the Buckeye Lake Advisory Council during a meeting on Monday.
The plan calls for workers to labor two, 10-hour shifts six days a week to build a 30-foot-wide temporary stability berm alongside the existing 4.1-mile dam, department spokeswoman Bethany McCorkle said.
Completion in June of the temporary berm and a seepage barrier that will become part of the new dam would allow for raising the lake water level somewhere closer to the regular 6-foot summer pool, she said.
The level could be 5 feet or a little less, depending on how fast rainfall refills the lake after state officials close the spillway gate to allow refilling, McCorkle said.
Officials have left the gate open this year to keep the lake shallow.