Mar. 18, 2018
The old dam on Eightmile Lake needs to be replaced right away, the Icicle Peshastin irrigation district claims.
At its March 13 board meeting the irrigation district declared an emergency over possible failure of the old dam, and announced that it would attempt to replace it this year. The district has filed a State Environmental Policy Act application with the Department of Ecology and hopes to receive expedited review because of its emergency declaration. Although the Forest Service must also approve its plan, Tony Jantzer, irrigation district manager, told the Wenatchee World that the district could select a designer for the project as soon as March 26.
The irrigation district says that this emergency arises from the Jack Creek fire, which burned in the Eightmile Creek headwaters last August. A Forest Service assessment in November warned there was a heightened risk of runoff and erosion in the burned area. After the Forest Service report, the Dam Safety Office of the state Department of Ecology designated the dam at a "high hazard" level.
"We don’t think the dam is going to break," Jantzer told the Wenatchee World. "It’s not imminent by any means, and we don’t think it’s very likely. But if we get a bad situation up there, if we get a big rainstorm or something happens where things melt off fast, it’s a definite possibility."
Residents whose property is determined to lie in a potential floodpath will be contacted by Chelan County Emergency Management, Jantzer said. Chelan County Natural Resources director Mike Kaputa predicted to local media that the Chelan County commissioners would likely make their own emergency declaration by the end of March. As an initial precaution, the irrigation district plans in May to start lowering the level of Eightmile Lake by up to 15 feet so that it can absorb any sudden runoff. The best window for construction, Janzter says, would be July through September.
Eightmile Lake is within the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. The land is owned by the US government and managed by the Forest Service, which granted an easement to the irrigation district when the government acquired that land in 1990.
Media reports refer both to repairing and replacing the dam. So far, the irrigation district has not disclosed its specific construction plans.