More work planned for Lake Altoona Dam

Friday, December 4, 2015
Jesse Horne, WEAU

ALTOONA, Wis. (WEAU) -- More work will need to be done on the Lake Altoona Dam than first expected.

The initial work on dam began on the downstream side and was budgeted for $431,000 - half of that cost covered with grants from the state department of natural resources.

But now, more work on the dam will need to be done - this time, on the upstream side of the dam.

"As the water was drawn down, they noted that there were repairs which needed to be done on the upstream portion of the concrete," Eau Claire County administrator Kathryn Schauf said to WEAU 13 News on Friday.

The discovered wear and tear is not out of the ordinary.

"The deterioration we're seeing there is typical of old concrete deterioration," Christopher Goodwin, water resources manager with Ayres Associates - which is overseeing the engineering on the dam - said to WEAU 13 News on Friday. "It's right at the water line - the freeze/thaw line, so that is where the most deterioration occurs. So, that kind of deterioration is to be expected."

While this new erosion on the upstream side of the dam is going to add to the overall work load, Goodwin said he's glad they caught it when they did.

"There's not a structural issue that we're concerned with," he said. "They should be fixed, but it's not the kind of thing that has to be done right away. Because the lake is drawn down, it makes sense to do that repair job now."

A proposal for work on the upslope portion of the dam will be drawn up by Ayers Associates within the next week, with bids for the project to be expected soon after. Schauf estimates the additional work to cost around $200,000 and Eau Claire County will look to get grant money to assist.

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