Reconstruction of the Smallwood Dam, one of the four dams that failed, causing historic flooding in mid-Michigan six years ago, will be completed in late July.
In a public meeting this week, the Four Lakes Task Force, the organization responsible for overseeing reconstruction and managing the dams, said the dam’s control room, low-level outlet and auxiliary spillway are done. The remaining work on the dam will focus on the principal spillway, dam slopes, embankment filters and drains.
Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy is set to inspect the construction work on the dam later this month.
Warren Miller is with Spicer Group, which is in charge of construction efforts. He said once the dam is okay-ed by the state, they’ll start to refill Smallwood Lake.
“Being that we are going to start this process in the very end of July and beginning of August, it will take eight to 10 weeks to refill the lake, and that's very weather dependent,” Miller said.
Legally, the task force can only raise water levels by one foot a day. Miller said it will be a slow process unless mother nature brings more rainfall than the current forecast projects.
The exact date the refill process will begin is dependent on the results of the EGLE inspection, Miller said.
David Kepler, president of the FLTF, said they plan to raise the lake within its state-mandated legal summer level of 704.6 feet.
“We would keep it on that level until sometime in December and then bring it down to winter level,” Kepler said.
The winter level, also set by the state, is 701.3 feet.
Smallwood is the second of the four failed dams to be reconstructed. The Sanford Dam was completed earlier this spring. The refill of Sanford Lake was accelerated by bouts of heavy rainfall and has been open to the public since Memorial Day Weekend.
A third dam, Secord, is also projected to be substantially completed this September.
The Edenville Dam is still a ways away from being back up and running. That’s because the dam is larger and more complex than the other three. It’s projected to be substantially completed in September of 2027.
