The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Rock Island District, will be performing daily flow reductions at Saylorville Lake Dam starting the week of July 18 to facilitate the removal of more than 40 years of accumulated debris from the control tower intake.
Daily closures of the dam are necessary to allow divers to safely clear debris from the intake structure. On weekdays, outflows at the dam will be reduced to zero cubic feet per second (cfs) beginning around 7 a.m. and returned to a maximum of 3,000 cfs at 6 p.m., for three to four weeks. The contractor will only be permitted to work if the reservoir inflows are at or below 3,000 cfs. If inflows exceed this level, work will stop to allow proper releases from the dam. To support the change in dam operations, a minor deviation from Saylorville Lake’s Water Control Plan has been coordinated and approved by the Mississippi Valley Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
An erosion control project also got underway this week on the shoreline of Saylorville Dam. The Control Tower parking lot is closed to facilitate this work which will take several months to complete. Increased truck traffic and heavy equipment use will be visible around the dam. Visitors are asked to avoid marked construction areas and stay clear of heavy equipment operations.
Debris removal and erosion control are essential to maintaining the Saylorville Lake Dam and will help to ensure efficient operation for years to come. For more information, contact the Saylorville Lake Project Office at 515-276-4656.
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