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Rehabilitation to Hearns Pond Dam first of efforts to bring state dams up to code

Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control
Hearns Pond Dam during a flood in the early 2000s

 

A rehabilitation project for the aging Hearns Pond Dam will make it the first dam in the state to meet new regulations.

 

State officials are worried of potential flooding at Hearns Pond Dam near Seaford.

“A section of the dam washed away completely in 2001. It was rebuilt in ‘02,” Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control Safety Engineer David Twing said. “In another storm in ‘06, the top couple of feet washed away in the same section. That was rebuilt in 2007.”

New regulations require that dams be designed to withstand a very large storm event without failing. Twing said no state-owned dam in Delaware currently meets that requirement.

Officials from DNREC and the Delaware Department of Transportation are teaming up to construct a new spillway and install concrete blocks along the earth embankment to withstand erosion. They hope to complete the project by 2017. Barry Benton, the state bridge engineer for DelDOT said although DelDOT does not own the dam, it poses a hazard to infrastructure, justifying the need for DelDOT to partner with DNREC for this project.

“It benefits us because when their (DNREC’s) stuff breaks, our stuff breaks,” Benton said. “When that dam failed in 2001, it washed out the road downstream. It also flooded into Williams Pond and threatened Seaford.”

In 2013, DNREC and DelDOT signed a memorandum justifying the need to work together to improve dams and work on them in order of priority. Hearns Pond Dam is the first project to bring a state-regulated dam up to code.

“We’re excited,” Benton said. “There’s 42 of them and this is no. 1. It’s been a long time getting to the point to get this work prioritized and get it going and we’re hoping to carry that momentum forward.”

Following the completion of the Hearns Pond Dam project, DelDOT and DNREC plan to work on Records Pond in Laurel. It is scheduled for completion in Fiscal Year 2019, Benton said.

Most of Delaware’s dams were built in the early 18th to 19th century to support the milling business. When the mills closed, ponds were left in their place. Twing said these ponds are valued for fishing and wildlife habitat, which is why DNREC wants to preserve these resources for the state.