A potential crisis was averted Tuesday in rural Somerset County when it was discovered that pipes and valves in the interior of a dam were leaking, not the earthen dam structure itself.
The malfunction of a water-release mechanism inside High Point Lake dam had forced a precautionary two-hour class delay at a school district about 10 miles downstream of the dam. The impoundment contains Glade Run, which runs into McClintock Run, which flows into the Casselman River.
Paul Urbanik, acting director of engineering at the state Fish and Boat Commission, said water that leaked from the dam was contained. While protocols alerting people downstream on Monday and Tuesday were appropriate, he said, the superstructure of the 53-foot earthen dam was stable and further review was ongoing.
Classes at Turkeyfoot Valley Area School District were delayed but the school day ended on time. High Point Lake dam is upstream of the K-12 campus, which is about two miles east of Confluence in Somerset County.
Somerset County Emergency Management put out an alert that there was a problem at the dam, and residents downstream in Confluence, Ursina, Addison, Lower Turkeyfoot and part of Fayette County were notified.
Jeffrey Malaspino, Turkeyfoot District school superintendent, said the class delay was a preventive measure called Monday evening to give emergency management workers and engineers more time to evaluate the dam’s stability.
“The concern is potential flooding. … I’ve been in contact with Somerset Emergency Management and the Madison Township volunteer firefighters since [Monday] afternoon,” he said. “At 7:30 [Monday night] I was informed of the current condition at the dam. We wanted to give the sun time to come up and give workers added time to appraise the situation, and so the delay was ordered.”
A post on the school district’s website suggests classes are expected to start on time Wednesday.
“We continue to monitor the situation at High Point Lake,” the message states. “Currently we anticipate a regular start time for Wednesday. Should anything change, we will notify parents by way of a phone call.”
Mr. Malaspino said an automated phone system would be used to quickly reach students’ homes. The two-hour delay followed Monday’s Labor Day holiday, when schools were closed.
The Turkeyfoot Valley school building is in Harnedsville, a couple of hundred yards from a point where the Casselman River winds in a tight oxtail roughly around the campus of Harnedsville United Methodist Church.
“Not only do we have residents in the potential flooding area but it includes bus routes,” said Mr Malaspino. “Everything we’ve been told has been precautionary. … The situation hasn’t changed” since Monday.
High Point Lake is a bottom-release impoundment holding 338 surface acres of water. It is about 10 miles upstream of Harnedsville at the base of Mt. Davis, Pennsylvania’s highest point.
Mr. Urbanik said the problem was discovered when a resident who was fishing near the dam heard an unusual sound from the dam structure’s interior. The rupture is either in the draw-down gate valve or wooden stop planks, parts of the water-release process.
“Those are the most likely culprits to fail; there’s another small valve that could have failed,” said Mr. Urbanik. “We can’t get in there to look because it’s filled with water. At this point we’re having a diver come in in the next few days to see if we can fix it.”
Replacement of a draw-down gate valve would likely cost the Fish and Boat Commission $50,000 to $60,000. Replacement of the planks would cost a few thousand. The cash-strapped executive branch agency receives no state tax dollars, but holds a large reserve fund used to pay for this type of emergency.
“Currently we’re monitoring the dam 24/7 waiting for the drawdown to see what’s happening,” said Mr. Urbanik. “Access to the lake isn’t banned, but we’re advising people not to fish there temporarily.”
In a region popular among anglers, the lake is owned and managed by the state Fish and Boat Commission and is used primarily for fishing and paddling. With a maximum depth of just 17 feet, High Point Lake holds the state record for pickerel and northern pike.
Its outflow is stocked by the state with brook trout and brown trout from the dam at Glade Run past the creek’s confluence with McClintock Run, beneath a footbridge of the Great Allegheny Passage trail to the Casselman River about 2 miles upstream of Harnedsville. Periodically, Fish and Boat partially drains High Point Lake to kill off excessive aquatic weeds.
John Hayes: 412-263-1991, jhayes@post-gazette.com.
First Published: September 4, 2018, 5:38 p.m.
Updated: September 5, 2018, 2:24 p.m.
