The following is the report of the Strategic Committee Chair John Dackow to the PLPA in May 2022. This is being posted in response to the posting on the Peck Lake Campers and Owners Community Facebook page referring to a news article that the dam at the western end of the lake is in “Poor” condition and that the “Hazard Potential Classification” is “High.” Given the following report, it appears that the categorization of the dam as a high risk is misleading. In light of this latest report we will be reaching out to Brookfield to clarify.
On May 19, 2022, a meeting was held jointly with Brookfield Renewable Energy, (BRE) Peck Family representatives and PLPA representatives.
Purpose of this meeting was intended to continue an open dialogue with BRE, as well as specifically to get feedback from them regarding recent Times Union articles regarding dam safety.
BRE had 5 representatives present ranging from Safety and Compliance Manager and Engineer, Operations locally and nationally as well as Relations Manager. Geoff Peck, Tammy Warner, Albi Peck, Kathleen Perrott, and John Dackow represented the Pecks and PLPA interests.
BRE operates 79 dams across the country, [note: BRE owns and maintains the dam] and is well equipped to understand, evaluate, and work with the various State agencies who oversee dam operation and safety. The recent articles in the Times Union spoke about deficiencies, and after drilling down further, it reveals the main “deficiency” is designed overflow capacity. This is a somewhat arbitrary target, set by NY, currently defined as how the dam would handle two feet of rain over 3 days. This exceeds what is commonly referred to as 100-year flood by a factor of 4-5 times. Various State and Federal agencies all seem to have a different definition or interpretation as to what and how this should be utilized.
Our dam spillway and valve system have a rated capacity of handling ~3400 cubic feet of water/sec. Hurricane Irene produced the most rain in recent times and based on measurements, the maximum flowing volume of water was less than ½ the capacity of the current dams overflow capacity or approximately 1500 cubic feet/sec. which equates to a 2+ times safety margin.
Nevertheless, BRE is working with state agencies to propose alternative options to further expand overflow capabilities. This is a long-term project as none of the solutions are simple, inexpensive, or non-disruptive, but all alternatives have pros and cons and are being considered and then weighed against the “risk” factor.
Currently our dams (both the concrete as well as the earthen one at the opposite end of the lake) are routinely inspected, and evaluated, both internally by BRE as well as by independent outside inspectors and no other significant issues have been identified. They have “time lapse” photography over the last 15 years of some of the common concerns such as seepage or calcification, and these yearly photos show no appreciable degradation. They also have a well-defined maintenance program in place and
have been and do address some of the more common issues associated with this type of dam structure.
One suggestion was for BRE to investigate alternating the usage of both spillway valves to insure they are both functional and in good operating condition. This was raised based on many of your observations that it only ever seems the same one valve is open and questioned whether the other valve was usable. They agreed to consider this.
We appreciate their openness to share this information and participate in this type of data sharing meeting and we will endeavor to continue this on an annual basis, if possible, to further build a healthy, open dialogue.
John Dackow
PLPA Strategic Committee
May 19,2022