Oxford is pursuing a plan to add stone grade controls upstream from Welchville dam. Nicole Carter / Advertiser Democrat
OXFORD — Oxford is finally taking action on the Welchville dam, which feeds the Little Androscoggin River from Hogan and Whitney Ponds.
For years the town and residents have debated repairing it or replacing it with a new dam. Opinion has swung either way, but the projected cost for either has been out of reach and only increased over time.
Meanwhile it has been in imminent danger of failing since at least 2015 when engineer Myron Petrosky of MBP Consulting in Portland warned officials that such an event could drop water levels in the ponds by more than five feet.
More recently selectmen have tasked David Cloutier with VHB, an engineering firm based in South Portland, with researching environmentally and economically feasible solutions.
One option, presented to the board last August, is construction of a grade control system consisting of stone that mimics natural stream channels. It allows for spawning fish and amphibians to pass through and is designed as a zero-maintenance water management tool
Cloutier advised the town then that the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would need to provide feedback before he applies for permits to install the system.
A water grade control system as constructed at the outlet of Pierce and Wight Ponds at Penobscot, Maine is has been proposed as a replacement for Welchville dam in Oxford. Courtesy VHB, Inc.
Cloutier presented his final report to selectmen during a public hearing last Thursday night.
Access to the channel section where the control system will be built requires a temporary easement over privately-owned property, which Town Manager Adam Garland has been authorized to negotiate.
Cloutier said he would submit a Natural Resources Protection Act permit to state officials within the next few weeks, which could qualify the town for environmental fish spawning grants to help defray the expense. A request for a public hearing or for Maine’s Board of Environmental Protection to assume jurisdiction over the application will follow.
The cost to establish grade controls above Welchville dam will cost the town about $100,000. Cloutier said the cost to eventually remove the dam will be another $150,000.
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