Officials face major decision on future of dam, lake
By Jason Arndt
Staff Writer
The Echo Lake dam in Burlington has been apart of the community for nearly two centuries.
Peter Riggs, the city’s Director of Public Works, said on Monday the Echo Lake dam was originally constructed of brush and timber around 1835 for the sole purpose of supporting the flour and lumber milling industry.
“It has been rebuilt and repaired numerous times since then,” Riggs said. “In its current configuration, it is a 10-foot tall concrete dam with a 240-foot long, uncontrolled spillway.”
The dam, which is viewed easily from Echo Park, has one 16-foot wide manually operated tainter gate.
The Echo Lake dam, according to Riggs, does not have the ability control flooding on the Fox River besides slowing the flow from the White River coming into the Fox River.
Echo Lake, however, could change or even disappear pending the results of an engineering study of the dam approved on Feb. 16 by the Common Council.
Riggs, in early February, told the Common Council the dam has been a topic of discussion for several years and revealed compliance issues with the structure.
A Dam Failure Analysis, known as DFA, done in 2015 approved by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources concluded the Echo Lake dam carries a dam hazard classification of “significant.”
“The report classified our dam as a significant hazard dam, which sounds a lot scarier than it is,” said Riggs, adding the DNR only offers this category because of the dam’s relative size.
The DFA, or study, recognized the dam as currently configured does not pass the 500-year flood mark without overtopping the embankment at Echo Park.
According to DNR requirements, any dam classified as a significant hazard and fails to meet the 500-year flood standard results in non-compliance.
“Therefore, to be compliant with WDNR requirements, dam modifications must be performed to increase spillway capacity,” Riggs wrote in a city document.
“Alternatively, compliance can be achieved by dam removal.”
The city, meanwhile, must make changes by 2025 to meet regulatory compliance.
While modifications are expected, changes and scrutiny isn’t anything new for Echo Lake dam, according to records from the Burlington Historical Society.
Looking ahead
According to Riggs, the city faces a July 8, 2025, deadline for compliance. The feasibility study conducted by Ayres and Associates will answer lingering questions ranging from cost as well as proposed modifications.
Ayres and Associates plans to perform hydraulic modeling of the 100- and 500-year floods, analysis of spillway configurations to contain the 500-year flood, review a dam removal options and offer cost estimates for all compliance alternatives.
Riggs previously said he hopes the consultant can complete the survey and present options to Common Council this year with funds set aside in the 2022 budget to design the selected project.
Riggs, in early February, said the community will more than likely present questions to the Common Council about the Echo Lake dam’s future.
“You guys are going to have a very – no doubt – community-engaged discussion on what the next step would be and alternatives to pursue,” he said.
To read the entire story, including a detailed history of the dam in Burlington, see the Feb. 25 edition of the Burlington Standard Press.
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