Pittsfield's Tel-Electric Dam is an 87-year-old dam that spans the west branch of the Housatonic River behind the Eagle Clock Tower building upstream of the Mill Street bridge. The Riverways Program in the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game is working on several Berkshire County river projects to restore stream continuity and improve instream habitat. The removal of Pittsfield's Tel-Electric Dam is one of those projects.
The entire Mill Street (Tel-Electric) Dam Removal Feasibility Study, Final Report of
June 2006 is online (pdf).
Pittsfield's Director of Community Services James McGrath told the Pittsfield City Council that removing or lowering the Mill Street dam is one of the measures that the city is considering to improve the environment around Wahconah Park. The dam is located roughly two miles from 3,100-seat Wahconah Park, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the summer of 2005. Wahconah Park is located within the flood plain of the river's western branch. McGrath said the cost could be as much as $2 million dollars to remove or lower the dam.
However, Tim Purinton, a river restoration planner with Riverways, said the cost estimates for the dam are "somewhat broad" because the amount of sediment located behind the structure hasn't been determined yet. The more sediment located behind a dam, the more expensive it is to remove the structure, he said. As an example, Purinton said removing Ballou Dam in Becket, which contained little sediment, cost only about $250,000.
BEAT supports the removal of this dam to restore river continuity. We would point out that the sediment removal behind Pittsfield's dam could be especially expensive and time consuming because it likely contains PCBs, the amount and extent of which will have to be determined. While BEAT believes that the General Electric Company should bear the cost of testing and removal, the time factor will be annoying.
The removal of the Mill Street Dam has been listed as a Riverways' Program priority project since 2005, when the agency accepted an application from the city of Pittsfield to have the dam removal placed on that list. The project is currently listed as being in the "feasibility" phase, and has been funded through the initial feasibility assessment.
The project will include an assessment to determine the feasibility and environmental benefits of removing the dam. The removal of the dam is expected to improve stream continuity all the way to the river's main stem. It is also being considered in tandem with improved public access — McGrath said the city is considering the establishment of a "greenway" between Wahconah and Clapp parks — and flood control to protect Pittsfield's historic ballpark.
BEAT suggests that this flood control should include removal of the old landfill at the King Street Dump and its restoration to a functional wetland.
The preliminary feasibility study, alternatives analysis and a scour analysis has been completed, Purinton said, but a more detailed report, has yet to be done. The second scope of work will contain a public input phase, that will be accomplished by the scheduling of public hearings, he added. The Berkshire Regional Planning Commission is listed as the Riverways Program's "project partner."
Effects of removing the dam on the surrounding infrastructure also need to be determined, Purinton said. Unlike rural dams, urban structures are located near other properties, including buildings, and in the Mill Street dam's case, railroad lines.
Purinton said that most dam removal projects can take years to complete. But he said they only take a "couple of years" once the funding pieces and permits are in place. |
