The dam on Mill Street, next to the Hawthorne Mill, is slated to be removed next year.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Plans to finally remove the Tel-Electric dam on Mill Street are being crafted.

 

The city and the state have been looking to remove the century-old dam for a decade and now has the funding to do so.

 

The state Department of Fish and Game won a $1 million federal grant through the U.S. Department of Interior's Hurricane Sandy Coastal Resiliency Competitive Grant Program for the demolition in 2016.

 

"The removal of the dam will have a big impact on the health of the river," said Alex Hackman, a restoration specialist with the Department of Fish and Game's Division of Ecological Restoration.

 

"Our role in this project is to lead the engineering effort to remove the dam."

 

The free-flowing river is better for water quality, fish are allowed to swim a greater distance, and all of the food and sustenance flows downstream — all creating a better ecosystem.

 

Engineers from Princeton Hydro are currently designing the removal plans. 

 

"They are very experienced in dam removals, particularly dam removals in urban environments," Hackman said, explaining how the hydrology of the flooding and flow impacts nearby structures.

 

"The sediment that has built up behind the dam is also backed up on those structures ... we are creating a very detailed typographical map."

 

Dam removals pose many challenges, Hackman said, because of the change in sediment and water flow has on nearby infrastructure.

 

For a century, sediment has built up behind the dam and upstream, so engineers need to look at the integrity of the bridges and roads upstream to determine how they'll be impacted when the sediment is gone, the river is flooding in new places and riverbed is changed. Then craft additional plans to reinforce the infrastructure or redirect waterflow if needed. 

 

Some of that sediment will be dredged out of the west branch of the Housatonic River, removing pollutants. The removal became feasible only recently when the price went down because the pollution behind the dam wasn't as bad as previously thought.

 

Hackman said the pollution is mostly heavy metals and petroleum products from local industries of old. At first the department was expecting a heavy amount of removal would be needed. But it was determined that the sediment behind the dam is just as polluted as the rest of the river so keeping the sediment there wouldn't be making it worse.

 

"The river has a long history of cleanup activities," Hackman said.

 

The West Branch of the river has been an ongoing priority for the city as it works on multiple "greenway" projects to restore it.

 

According to Parks and Open Space Manager James McGrath, the city has put in a canoe launch at Wahconah Park, installed wildlife feeders, upgraded Dorothy Amos park and is designing a River Park on Dewey Avenue as part of these efforts. 

 

"We've been trying to implement discreet projects in the West Branch of the river," McGrath said.

 

Berkshire Environmental Action Team and the Housatonic Valley Association have been holding cleanups of that section of the river to cull out garbage and other items tossed into the river. 

 

"They've been great river stewards," Hackman said.

 

Recreation is eyed to return to that section of the river, improving the living quality for the neighborhoods from Wahconah Park to Clapp Park. Hackman added that "you'll be able to kayak all the way from Wahconah Park to Woods Pond."

 

The dam removal is a next step toward restoring the West Branch but McGrath adds that the removal is a public health issue, too.

 

"This is a privately owned dam that has exceeded its life," McGrath said. "We don't want to see this fail ... There is a public safety aspect of it."

 

The city was awarded $750,000 in 2006 from the Natural Resource Damage Trustees, which oversaw funds from the General Electric consent decree. That $750,000 is being added to the $1 million the state was awarded to complete the project in 2016.

 

"We're expecting it to cost about $1.25 million up to $1.5 million," Hackman said, but those numbers are far from being finalized.

 

A breached dam would send rushing water downstream and endanger roadways and the ground around West Housatonic Street neighborhoods. The city will be overseeing the removal of the dam and helping with permitting.

 

The state is handling the permitting, which is expected to include MEPA (Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act) review, dredging 401 water quality permit, chapter 253 permit from the Office of Dam Safety, and a 404 permit with the Army Corps of Engineers.

 

"It's not a challenge anymore. It just takes time," Hackman said of that process.

 

The dam is attached to the Hawthorne Mill Building, which used to house the Tel-Electric Piano Player Co. factory.