Serving the Towns of Wawarsing, Crawford, Mamakating, Rochester and Shawangunk, and everything in between
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The future of Honk Lake drew a large crowd last Thursday, July 17, as the state explained the reasons it wants to drain its water to prevent a possible dam blowout. Photos by Chris Rowley & Lisa Carroll
Time To Drain Honk Lake?
State Says Dam's Not Up To Climate Change Flood Control Needs

NAPANOCH – Honk Lake is under order for imminent draining by the state Department of Environmental Conservation, whose July 17 presentation on their action drew outrage from nearby residents, and confusion from Town of Wawarsing board members.

Later, the town building department issued a stop work order against the state as a temporary stalling measure, after which town supervisor Leonard Distel said he isn't quite sure what is going on since DEC equipment and machinery had been removed. Taking one step further, Distel said he would make sure any necessary permits for the state's work be withheld unless they undergo environmental impact studies and public hearings on their plans.

During the meeting, the Wawarsing town board unanimously passed a resolution declaring their opposition to the draining of the lake, and stating that the dam there be left as it is.

"You guys are moving too quickly. This is not fair to the people in Napanoch. This is not fair to the people in Wawarsing," Distel told the state's Bureau of Flood Protection and Dam Safety chief Alon Dominitz and DEC attorney Scott Crisafulli. "You haven't done your homework. You haven't done what's right. You're not moving that dam, gentlemen,"

Distel said the 1898 Rosendale cement dam has been leaking in the same places for decades and will continue to for the foreseeable future. He decried DEC studies and belittled the threat of a catastrophic dam break by speaking to the structure's history.

According to Dominitz, two Army Corps of Engineers studies in 1981 and 1998 both indicated that the Honk Falls dam is a level C high hazard dam and that state-required safety regulations have not been kept up with at the privately owned dam, thus requiring DEC action — especially given the new standards and modelling systems being implemented as storms are predicted to increase in coming years.

Complicating matters, the dam's owners have been involved in litigation for the past seven years, during which time no maintenance was performed or required emergency management plans written or submitted. Lawsuits ensued, settlements couldn't be reached and a stay was ordered.

And the state decided that after 33 years of high hazard, and increasingly bad weather reports for the future, something had to be done.

"A large part of Napanoch would be flooded; part of the airport would be flooded, the fire station," New York's leading expert on dams said, adding that also in any flooding's path would be the nearby prison, SR 55, a Route 209 bridge and various smaller road crossings.

"The closure leaks and the edges are rotten," Dominitz said. "It's certainly not in the best of shape."

Until litigation is settled and the dam's owners can repair what they own, he added, the DEC is taking what safety measures they believe are available to them and preparing to lower Honk Lake by 15 feet. The cost of needed repairs, he estimated, would likely run between $2.5 to $5 million; lowering the lake would cost $36,000, provided through special DEC funding.

"The advantages are, obviously, that public safety is going to be improved because the lower lake level will reduce the pressure behind the dam during normal flow condition... and because the dam doesn't meet stability criteria during flood conditions, there won't be as much pressure against the dam in such circumstances," Dominitz explained. "If the dam was to fail, there would be less water behind it."

The state's plan is to approach the dam by boat and reduce the water behind using siphons, then take out the wooden boards that block the penstocks. To be put back in shape the process could be reversed.

The impacts as far as the public would see, the state engineer continued, would be a smaller water surface with the lake bottom exposed. By doing the work now, vegetation could grow by season's end and wildlife relocate. And to avoid downstream flooding from the drainage, the entire process will be done slowly.

"But lowering the lake 15 feet would leave nothing but a trickle," Distel said.

"We need to study this much more before we destroy one of our lakes," he opined, noting that the dam did not fail when hit by tropical storms Irene and Lee.

During public comment, residents aired their concerns about the disadvantages they saw from draining the lake.

One noted how the mud, and possible rotting fish left behind, would stink. Others talked about the natural springs under the water's surface. Robert Berger, one of the lake's and dam's owners, asked if the state knew the median depth of Honk Lake.

"Ten years ago it was approximately 6 feet," he said. "You say there is a high risk of loss of life and property if this dam fails and releases water that's in Honk Lake. That water is there because the DEC requires the City of New York to release water from the Merriman Dam. Why has the DEC required that the city release water into the Rondout Creek so that it creates Honk Lake for the past several decades if that water could cause loss of life or property damage?"

According to Berger, the DEC has stocked the lake's fish, promoted its use and provided access to it. He suggested that since the DEC uses the dam to create and maintain the lake, they should pay for and maintain it.

Assemblywoman Claudia Tenney asked the DEC attorney what DEC provision is authorizing the lowering of the lake.

Like most of the questions brought up by the public, he replied that he couldn't answer due to the pending litigation. The timing, he noted, was based on a growing amount of need for dam oversight around the state.

Why no public hearing, Distel asked, wondering whether the state was exempt from such

protocol?

"We are not exempt, but given it's of a semi-emergency nature, the regulations now require us to do a safety EIS (Environmental Impact Study)," Crisafulli said.

New emphasis has been put on dam safety ever since the implementation of new Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) computer modeling standards written to accommodate climate change flood situations that have come to light since Hurricanes Katrina, Irene and Sandy. In New York State, DEC oversight of dams and other water bodies has started including analysis information and advice from the state's office on climate change.

"I have issues with this. I think what we should do here is to compromise," Distel later noted. "Instead of fighting each other we should be working on a solution to repair this dam."



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