Flood relief falling on dammed ears

Dry lakes and flood control dams may be the only answer

By DAVID HULSE

NARROWSBURG, NY — The Upper Delaware Council has been lobbying New York City to make use of its dams for flood control for years. In February, with Tropical Storm Ivan fresh in mind, they tried again. UDC Executive Director Bill Douglass said Monday that the council hasn’t received a response to its latest letter.

The city did make some reductions at one reservoir, Pepacton, based on the unmelted snow reserve. They reduced the reservoir’s level by half of that anticipated snowmelt, but the drain-down ended in March, days before the recent flooding and storms that preceded the flooding incident refilled the reservoir.

By now, Douglass is resigned to the fact that flood control will never be a priority. “That’s them. They’ve been steadfast that those dams are there for New York City’s water supply,” he said.

The Delaware River Basin Commission issued a statement following the recent flooding, which said in part, “Dams and levees offer protection from flooding and have saved hundreds of millions of dollars in damage, but new projects are expensive, require local community cost shares, and are environmentally controversial. Property buyouts and flood proofing have successfully prevented flood damage, but these efforts are costly and require state or local funding to secure federal funds…. There is no single, easy remedy. Ultimately, with local cost shares necessary to receive federal funding, decisions on how to reduce flood losses must be made at the county and community level and must be based on plans targeting either protection or acquisition of the most vulnerable properties.”

Douglass said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers flood control dams, Prompton on the Lackawaxen River and the Jadwin Dam on Dyberry Creek, have more than once saved Honesdale from extensive damage.

The dam projects came as a result of devastating flooding in Honesdale in 1942, when many lives were lost, Douglass said.

Prompton holds a recreational reservoir with a submerged drain that maintains a steady downstream flow, while Jadwin is a “dry dam,” which floods only when the stream flow exceeds its outlet pipe.

After last September’s flooding, the corps estimated that the dams reduced the flood stage at Honesdale by nearly one-third, reducing storm damage by an estimated $7.3 million.

Since their construction in 1960, the corps estimates that a total of $23.7 million in downstream flood damage has been prevented by the two dams.