Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, July 4, 1995 TAG: 9507050060
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: HOLIDAY
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
He introduced himself as Duncan McGregor, state inspector for dam safety. The earthen dam about a quarter-mile upstream was not up to state standards, he told the Ayers, and it was not 100 percent safe.
Since then, the Department of Conservation and Recreation has tried unsuccessfully to get the owner to bring the Blue Ridge Estates dam into compliance.
"My concern is people living down below may not know there's a dam up there or that it might be dangerous," said Joe Haugh, chief of dam safety. "It has some serious deficiencies."
Tall sycamores and poplars grow on the downstream side, threatening the stability of the earthen dam. A severe storm could topple the trees, pulling out large chunks of soil, Haugh said. When the trees die, the root systems dry out and act as conduits for water. And once erosion begins in an earthen dam, it only gets worse - as evidenced by last month's Timberlake dam failure near Lynchburg that killed two people.
Further, the spillway is too small, and there is no emergency action plan, as required by law for dams in the state's program, Haugh said.
Naomi Ayers isn't too worried about the dam breaking, though. Timberlake dam was 70 years old, and this one is only 30 years old, she notes. "We talked to a man yesterday who witnessed it being built," she said last week. The man told her the dam is 50 feet wide on the bottom and packed with clay.
Built sometime in the 1950s, the dam created a lake that attracted buyers to the new Blue Ridge Estates subdivision off Mountain Pass Road.
Ayers has lived along Laymantown Creek, downstream from the dam, for 18 years, and she's never heard of any problems with it. "Oh, that dam's not going anywhere for another 20 years," she predicted.
Besides, she said, McGregor, the state inspector, told her he didn't think
the dam was ready to bust.
True, McGregor said. But he's trained to note the early warning signs of trouble, and he sees them at the Blue Ridge Estates dam and the Rainbow Forest Lake dam less than a mile downstream.
Neither is in the state's program, which exempts dams less than 25 feet high with a reservoir capacity of less than 50 acre-feet.
Based on a preliminary inspection, McGregor said the Blue Ridge Estates dam should be in the state's dam-regulation program.
The Rainbow Lake Association has said the Rainbow Lake dam is not big enough, "but we've got some questions," McGregor said.
"Whether it's a regulated size or not doesn't change the fact that there could be some danger," Haugh said.
Representatives of the Rainbow Lake Association could not be reached for comment.
The company that owns the Blue Ridge Estates dam is owned by an elderly woman in a nursing home, according to T.L. Plunkett, a Roanoke attorney who represents the company. He also represents the Rainbow Lake developers, he said.
"So far as I know, neither of those dams has had any problems," he said. "All they've said is they want us to develop a program for dam safety."
His client is considering an alternative - tearing the Blue Ridge Estates dam down.
"We don't get any benefit from the lake. Be a lot of unhappy people down there, though," Plunkett said. He's offered to give the lake - and dam - to the homeowners, but they haven't taken him up on the offer.
"It's going to cost right much to fix it," Ayers said. "We don't feel like we should foot the whole bill."
She'd hate to see the lake disappear, not only because many of the residents enjoy fishing, swimming and picnicking there, but also because she fears property values would drop.
"That concerns me more than the thing busting."
Ayers said some of the homeowners are trying to figure out what they should do. Meanwhile, Plunkett has asked for the necessary forms to breach the dam, and Haugh said that after a year of trying to persuade the dam owner to certify the dam, the state's next step is to go to the attorney general's office to start legal action.
by CNB