BUCKEYE LAKE, Ohio – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says the chance of dam failure at Buckeye Lake is so high that the agency is recommending it be drained until repairs can be made.
READ MORE: In the Columbus Dispatch
The Corps, which was brought in by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to assess the safety of the dam reported that the structural integrity of the 177-year-old dam has been “significantly weakened by the more than 370 homes and other structures that that have been sunk into the 4.1-mile earthen dam embankment,” the Columbus Dispatch reported.
The agency recommended that the lake be drained or the dam be replaced immediately to prevent potentially catastrophic failure. The report says a dam failure could endanger the lives of 3,000 people who live and work near the popular recreational lake.
One person who is not entertaining the idea of draining the lake is the district’s state Representative.
“When repairs are being made, we need to guarantee that property, residents and businesses are respected. The lake needs to be functional during repairs to preserve the local economy,” said Tim Schaffer (R-Lancaster). “Draining the lake should not be an option. The Corps report listed dozens of recommendations that do not require draining the lake.”
The state says it will keep the nearly five-square-mile lake at lower winter levels until it can evaluate the report.
When asked whether the current earthen dam was salvageable in the long term, Mike Spoor, engineer with the Huntington District of the Corps, which assessed Buckeye Lake, said flatly, “No.”
Spoor said that there were concerns that the dam might fail in the intervening months between when the Corps was first contacted and today, when is report was released.
The Corps report recommended an immediate replacement of the dam to prevent “catastrophic failure,” but added: “The safest solution for eliminating the risk of flooding due to dam failure is to drain the lake permanently.”
The Corps conducted on-site examinations and structural testing of the Buckeye Lake dam and reviewed all previous studies, dating back to the 1960s.
The homes, which the state allowed to be built into the back side of the dam beginning in the early 20th century, as well as docks sunk into the lake side of the dam, have “displaced or disrupted large portions of the embankment.”
Spoor said the conditions of the Buckeye Lake dam are as poor as any dam in their inventory and “unprecedented” for the number of problems created by the number of man-made structures built into the embankment.