CANTON – Anasagunticook Lake dam owner Raymond J. Fortier has been ordered by the state to leave the dam gates open because if they’re closed as usual this spring the dam could break.

In a letter from John W. Libby, commissioner of the state Department of Defense, Veterans and Emergency Management, dated May 8, Fortier was ordered to leave the dam’s overflow sluice gates open, reversing the state’s standing order that they be closed May 15 to raise the water level in the lake.

Fortier has opened the gates as ordered, Town Administrative Assistant Kathy Hutchins said, and that has allowed the lake water level to drop 6 feet lower than the normal summer level.

The state inspected the dam last year and concluded that the integrity, structural stability, function and operation of the dam constituted a threat to public safety. Libby determined that the spillway didn’t have adequate capacity to handle flood waters without overtopping the earthen embankments, potentially causing the dam to burst.

Libby also said additional fill material, which had been placed on top of the earthen dam, had not been called for, and it placed an additional load on the already unstable structure.

Fortier was asked to repair and test the four spillway gates to ensure all were functional and could be raised in a timely manner, to have an emergency operational procedure for opening the spillway gates during flooding conditions, and to have a plan for reducing the height of all four spillway gates.