Feagles dam awaits repairs

Lowered and breached, water levels remain low as repairs are commenced

By KIMBERLY M. WEYANDT

NARROWSBURG, NY — Acting on safety concerns of the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), the Tusten Highway Department pumped 75 million gallons from the 210-million-gallon Feagles Lake adjacent to Route 97. Steve Adler and Stuart Venner of the Feagles Lake Realty Corp own the lake and the 50-year-old dam.

An examination in early February by the New York State Department of Conservation’s dam safety division revealed that a clogged pipe caused damage, as water flowed around the pipe and dam, eroding some of the earth away. Beavers are at least partly responsible for creating the clog.

DEC engineer Scott Reimer appeared before the Tusten Town Board on February 13 and said that the water level must be reduced by 2.5 feet to decrease pressure on the dam. If the dam were to break, he said, water would wash though a residential area, down Route 97, through Pecks Plaza and into the Delaware River.

Due to the perceived danger, the town and the DEC stepped in under emergency authorization and completed the remedial action. A pump truck lowered the level, while the highway department created controlled breaches by hand.

“It’s easier for the town to go in and get the work done,” said Tusten supervisor Ben Johnson.

“We wanted to make sure we had total control of what was going on,” he said.

The notches in the dam will keep water levels down until repairs can be made. Adler has hired an engineering firm with the intention of repairing the dam as quickly as possible.

It is Adler’s hope that since more of the dam is exposed, the engineering firm will have a better idea of the condition of the earthen barrier.

“The engineering firm will give us a report on what needs to be done for longtime repair. If it makes sense to us, we will present it to the DEC,” said Adler. “It will be done if the DEC approves it.”

Adler plans to have his consultant identify ways of preventing beavers from further clogging the intake.

“Apparently there are some methods of discouraging beavers,” said Adler. “This is a problem throughout the northeast.”