By Kim McDarison
High water in the Rock River brought about by recent storms rushed over the spillway of the Indianford Dam Friday.
While the scene was picturesque, high water has served to postpone work to replace submerged wicket gates underneath the dam’s powerhouse with above-surface slide gates. The work was initially slated to begin in March.
The dam, located in the community of Indianford and spanning the Rock River, impounds Lake Koshkonong, a more than 10,000-acre lake in Rock and Jefferson counties.
Lake Koshkonong has long been associated with tourism activity, drawing day, weekend and seasonal visitors each year into Fort Atkinson and the surrounding areas.
Rock Koshkonong Lake District (RKLD) Board of Commissioners Chairman Alan Sweeney said high water brought by last week’s storms was among reasons the district, which owns and operates the dam with oversight from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR), has delayed construction on the project.
The project focuses on the installation of six slide gates at the dam’s powerhouse, situated on the west side of the river, replacing the building’s submerged wicket gate system, which is comprised of two concrete cavities underneath the powerhouse, each of which contains a carousel or “turbine” containing levers or “vanes” that swivel on the carousel as water moves through. The system, combined with the dam’s spillway, and a series of slide gates situated on the east side of the river, control the amount of water that moves through the dam.
In recent years, RKLD electors and the board had determined that the wicket gate system was becoming increasingly inefficient and difficult to keep free of debris.
The new slide gates, which will be viewable from the surface, were approved for installation by the district’s electors to more efficiently allow the lake district an ability to maintain the summer and winter water levels in Lake Koshkonong as ordered by the DNR.
Responding to questions about the delay in the project by phone on Saturday, Sweeney said: “The water levels have been holding us up.”
Part of the construction plan calls for the “dewatering,” or draining, of the two cavities underneath the powerhouse where water passes through the system’s two wicket gate carousels, Sweeney noted, adding that closing off the cavities so river water cannot enter, even one at a time to install the replacement gates, becomes more difficult under conditions of high water.
“We have to be able to control the water,” he said.
While there had been periods between March and June where the water levels were deemed controllable, the project requires a window of two to three months to replace each carousel. With the prevailing water conditions, he said, “It was decided to move construction to June. The storm this past week really raised the water,” he added, noting that some area flooding had occurred. Recent discussions between board members and the DNR revolved around estimates about how long it might take for storm water within the area to reach the dam, Sweeney said.
The lake district plans to hold a construction meeting on June 29 to evaluate a new timetable, with a tentative date to begin construction set for July 7, he said.
Construction times must also be coordinated with the availability of divers, he said.
Construction oversight at the Indianford Dam project is provided by Mead and Hunt. The construction company performing the work is IEI. The company is based in DePere.
Sweeney said initial plans called for the project to complete by October 2022. The lake district is working with the DNR to establish a new completion date, which, he said, he anticipates will be sometime in 2023.
If the slide gates, which are being manufactured off site, are delivered on schedule in September and water levels remain controllable, it is possible that the project could still complete this year, Sweeney said.
“The gates are being constructed as we speak,” he added.
Some project history
As reported by Fort Atkinson Online last July, the full cost of the project was approximated at just over $2.2 million.
RKLD electors approved funding the project during their 2020 annual meeting, in part, through entering into a 8- to 10-year loan agreement in the amount of $1.5 million. Another $400,000 was anticipated, coming through a reimbursable grant facilitated through the DNR’s Municipal Dam Grant Program.
To receive funds, Sweeney told the board in 2020, a bid for the construction project at the dam had to reach or exceed a total of $1.2 million to be eligible for the maximum grant of $400,000 in reimbursable funds.
As earlier reported by Fort Atkinson Online, the district’s water control project became a DNR mandate in 2020 after the department determined some components within its directives, issued in 2014 and 2016, to RKLD for water control at the dam had gone unmet. How the dam operates, and at what level water within Lake Koshkonong is maintained, is set by state statute, Sweeney told board members in 2020.
During the 2020 annual meeting, electors further approved a new process through which to obtain general revenue funding. Instead of a special fee, the district would impose a tax levy assessed against the equalized value of property within the lake district. Proceeds secured through the annual tax levy would be used to fund future operating budgets and payments associated with the loan approved to help fund dam improvements.
Additional monies outlined for the project in 2020 included $71,900 spent on engineering services delivered by Mead and Hunt, and the district proposed using funds from its segregated Dam Fund to help pay for the project.
The fund holds $800,000, Sweeney said Saturday.
A story, outlining some of the history of the Indianford Dam water control project, is here: https://fortatkinsononline.com/rock-koshkonong-lake-district-annual-meeting-set-shumaker-to-run-for-reelection/.
2022 Annual meeting for electors
In addition, Sweeney noted that the Rock Koshkonong Lake District 2022 Annual Meeting for electors will be held Aug. 27 at Race Track Park, 900 Stoughton Road, Edgerton.
A monthly meeting to discuss the annual budget and annual meeting agenda will be held July 21, at 6 p.m., at the Town Hall in Fulton, 2738 W. Fulton Center Dr., Edgerton.
Board members whose seats will come due for election this year include Mark Meyer and Susan Shearer.
A story detailing decisions made during the RKLD 2021 annual meeting is here: https://fortatkinsononline.com/lake-district-shumaker-keeps-seat-322000-operating-budget-approved/.
Bathed in sunshine, the Indianford Dam powerhouse, situated on the west bank of the Rock River, has yet to undergo planned construction. On Friday, the Rock River flowed rapidly over the dam’s spillway powered by high water, resulting from recent storms. The storms, Rock Koshkonong Lake District officials say, have postponed construction. A new anticipated start date for construction at the powerhouse is July 7.
A view of the full dam at Indianford shows the powerhouse in the background, the spillway that spans the Rock River, and six above surface slide gates situated on the river’s east side. Construction plans at the powerhouse call for six slide gates to be installed along the downriver side of the powerhouse and the removal of two wicket gate turbines housed underneath the powerhouse. The change is sought to make the dam more efficient when controlling DNR-mandated water levels on Lake Koshkonong.
A fisherman enjoys the day in Indianford just below the dam.
Water rushes along the Rock River near its east riverbank and the downriver side of the Indianford Dam.
Kim McDarison photos.
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