Another $1 million of repairs in store for Bowersock Dam

A dam isn’t meant to have water flowing through it, but a portion of the 130-year-old dam across the Kansas River has been allowing just that. City engineers say the second phase of repairs to the Bowersock Dam — accounting for another $1 million of work — will ensure the water flows where intended.

“This will seal it up on the upstream side, and then you won’t have to worry about that,” said Matt Bond, stormwater engineer for the city.

The repairs will be made to the southernmost third of the dam, and are part of the city’s five-year plan for capital improvements. The $1 million project is budgeted for 2018, but the ultimate decision of when it moves forward is dependent on budget decisions made by the City Commission next year.

The first phase of reconstruction on the dam was done in 2010, after structural concerns were raised by the dam’s chief regulator, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. At that time, the city paid for $2.2 million of repairs on the dam. The main element of that work was to stabilize the dam by replacing supports of wood and concrete with ones of steel piling and concrete.

Bond said the second phase of work will be similar. He said crews will be reinforcing the remainder of the dam by adding steel pilings upstream from where there is currently masonry. Leaving the leaks as they are, he said, isn’t an option.

“If it goes unchecked over a long period of time, you run the risk of the dam breaching,” he said.

Since the 1970s, the city has legally been responsible for the maintenance of the dam, which is a key part of the city’s water supply system. The city’s Kaw Water Treatment Plant is just upstream, and the dam holds water at the proper level in a collection pond. Like the repairs before it, the upcoming work will help shore up the dam and ensure the right level of water in the pond, Bond said.

“If something were to happen and we lose that portion of the dam, and we can’t hold water that high, then that’s when we have a problem,” Bond said.

The dam is operated by the privately owned Bowersock Mills and Power Company. Following phase one of the repairs, the power company constructed a new powerhouse on the north side of the Kansas River. The new powerhouse — specifically its four additional turbines — allows for increased energy production. The company sells the power to the Kansas City Board of Public Utilities.

The flow of the river will have to be diverted in order for the repairs to be completed. Water will run only through the north powerhouse, which will allow crews to work, said Sarah Hill-Nelson, co-owner of Bowersock. Hill-Nelson said that the company may use that time to do its own infrastructure work, but it will depend on how the project gets designed.