VANDALIA — The Miami Conservancy District will receive $8.6 million in federal funding to repair concrete at three Miami Valley dams.
The allocation, included in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security budget, will fund concrete restoration at the Taylorsville, Germantown, and Englewood dams.
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The dams were built more than 100 years ago following a devastating flood in 1913 to protect the Miami Valley from catastrophic flooding.
Originally constructed without federal government assistance, the structures now require concrete repairs to maintain their strength and flood protection capabilities.
Miami Conservancy District representative MaryLynn Loder said portions of the aging concrete deteriorate annually from weather exposure.
“Every year we lose parts of the dam,” Loder said. She noted that freezing and thawing cycles cause expanding damage each year. Without federal support, the district would have needed another 10 years to collect the necessary repair funds locally, a delay officials did not want to risk.
“If we were to experience the 1913 flood again, there are parts of our system that could fail,” Loder said. “Every year they get more water, they get more damage because of all of the freezing and the thawing that happens, and it’s not going to get better on its own.”
U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Dayton, advocated for securing federal funding for the region’s flood protection infrastructure. “It’s very, very important for us to get our fair share of federal monies to build this and to maintain this system that we built ourselves,” Turner said.
Don O’Connor, chief engineer for the Miami Conservancy District, noted that concrete science has advanced significantly since the dams were first constructed.
The planned structural repairs will update the concrete to ensure long-term stability.
“They’re needed to make sure the dam stays strong and is able to hold back the flood it’s designed to hold,” O’Connor said.
Construction on the project is expected to begin in the spring. The repair work will take approximately one year to finish.
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