By J.W. Oliver
Area residents look on during repairs to the Clark’s Cove Pond dam Tuesday, Aug. 25. Town officials hope the repairs will seal the badly leaking dam and save the pond. (J.W. Oliver photo) |
A dam between Clark’s Cove and Clark’s Cove Pond in Walpole was repaired Tuesday, Aug. 25 with the goal of preserving the pond.
Damariscotta’s Sprague Excavation started work Tuesday morning, Aug. 25. South Bristol Selectmen Ken Lincoln and Chester Rice assisted with the project. Rice expected to complete work in the afternoon.
The selectmen and shorefront property owners started planning repairs in October 2014 after a dramatic drop in the water level of the 36.9-acre pond.
The property owners, including the wedding venue Clark’s Cove Farm, feared a repeat of Sherman Lake in Newcastle. Sherman Lake drained when flood waters breached an earthen dam during a 2005 storm, leaving a tidal river and wetlands.
Similarly, without sealing the dam, freshwater, manmade Clark’s Cove Pond could become a tidal stream.
Clark’s Cove Pond has long been porous. The fresh water from the pond trickles out and salt water from Clark’s Cove, on the Damariscotta River, seeps in at high tide.
Lincoln said one property owner’s research found that the dam was built in 1928 and started leaking in 1930.
“My guess is, it’s leaked ever since,” Lincoln said. “It’s to the point now where it can’t keep any water in it.”
The town and the neighbors agreed to collaborate on repairs. The town needs to protect Clark’s Cove Road, which passes over the dam, while the neighbors want to protect their shorefront.
The water level in Clark’s Cove Pond has dropped several feet since last fall. Town officials hope a dam repair will restore and maintain the previous water level. (J.W. Oliver photo) |
The neighbors agreed to pay for materials, while the town would cover equipment, labor, and other costs.
At the time, the town planned to start work right away, but the project was delayed.
“We had to wait till it dried out enough and then find somebody that had time enough to do it for us right then,” Rice said at the construction site Tuesday. “The pond’s as low as it’s been, so it can’t go any lower. It’ll be a brook if it goes much lower.”
The plan in October was to dig down, plug the leaks with a type of clay that expands as it soaks in moisture, install a liner on both sides of the dam, and add another variety of clay on top of the liner.
The work followed essentially the same plan, although there were some surprises. Rice said he expected to find holes in the clay at the base of the dam, “but there was no clay there. It was boulders – right down to the bottom.”
“No wonder it leaked,” Rice said. “We’ve probably taken out 30, 40 yards of boulders.”