Oxford debates repair to Thompson dam

OXFORD - The Thompson Lake Dam Advisory Committee is wondering just how much repair the dam really needs.

The committe with representatives of the towns with lake frontage — Oxford, Otisfield, Poland and Casco — was formed to monitor the expenditure of funds each town contributed to a dam maintenance fund, then recommend actions to the Oxford Board of Selectmen, in whose town the dam sits. Ross Cudlitz, a consultant professional engineer, showed the committee a video made by divers in September.

Cudlitz had edited the five-hour production to show the critical areas of disrepair in the dam's trash rack, a series of screens across the dam on the upstream side, which prevents subsurface floating material from striking the dam. The video confirmed the engineer's previous deduction that the dam itself is in good condition. But the rack and its catwalk have deteriorated to the point at which it is unsafe, and one of the screens is entirely out of place. The water, thus diverted, places undue stress on the wall of the old textile mill.

Oxford Town Manager Mike Chammings has been soliciting cost estimates to replace the broken foundation and catwalk. However, Cudlitz pointed out a side of the repair issue that had not previously been considered — instead of repairing the trash rack, which is not structurally connected with the dam, it might be cheaper to simply remove it.

"It was only there to keep the debris out of the mill's power generating equipment. The dam itself doesn't need that protection," Chammings said.

A committee member, Larry Moreau, of Poland, said the dam on Lower Range Pond is very similar to the Robinson Dam and has no excessive damage, despite the fact that it does not have a trash rack.

The committee recommended that Chammings ask the contractors to work up the price of removing the rack entirely for consideration at the next meeting,  November 23.

In addition, Chammings was directed to obtain the services of a specialist in hydrology to calculate the effects that removing the rack would have on the structure that remains, the mill and the surrounding lakeside.

Also discussed was a citizen's concern that fish might be lured, or swept by the current, downstream and through the dam if the trash rack is not repaired.

"There's a hole larger than six-by-six there now - big enough to drive a truck through," Cudlitz responded. "The fish have been able to go pretty much wherever they want to, for quite some time," said the engineer.

Another citizen asked if thought had been given to using the dam to generate power, but Chammings told her it had.

"When they closed the mill, they stripped out just about all the wiring and sold it for scrap. The equipment left in there is all seized up. I doubt any of it would work," Chammings responded.

Another citizen-onlooker at the meeting said the technology of power generation is such that the machinery left would be too antiquated to be commercially viable.