Page 3 - 2020 DEED

Concrete evidence
Lockington repair providing critical information
If you’ve ever taken on a home repair or improvement project, it’s often slow- going in the early stages. But as you gain experience, you learn new ways to do the work better and quicker.
MCD expects the same to be true of
the concrete repair/rehabilitation work needed at its dams. Work is already
under way at Lockington Dam to replace concrete at the top of the right spillway wall and install a drainage system to
keep water away from the back of the wall. The project is giving staff a better understanding of the extent of and reasons for the concrete deterioration.
“As we removed the concrete, we were able to see where the problems are and why water gets into certain parts of the back of the wall, which deteriorates the concrete,” says Barry Puskas, MCD chief of technical and engineering services.
Concrete repairs were made to MCD dams in the 1970s with a material called shotcrete. The shotcrete is now beyond its
useful life and needs to be replaced, and the material is trapping water in the walls. Innumerable freeze/thaw cycles have damaged the surface of the concrete walls and are causing the shotcrete repairs to detach from the walls.
MCD’s contractor is removing and rebuilding up to 15 feet of concrete on top of the dam’s upstream and downstream
right bank wall as well as repairing concrete on the face of the wall.
The project also involves
installing an underground drain behind the concrete wall to keep
rainwater and snowmelt from seeping into the wall joints.
What staff is learning at Lockington will be helpful in understanding rehabilitation needs at MCD’s other dams. Repairs will still be somewhat unique at each location due to shape and size, and different ways water gets into the walls, Puskas says.
Whelley voted president
Beth Whelley was voted president of
the MCD Board of Directors in 2019
and re-elected to the office in 2020. Ms. Whelley joined the board in 2015. She
is the first female to lead the Board of Directors. She is a senior vice president at Fahlgren-Mortine Integrated Marketing and Communications. Mark Rentschler and William Lukens are the other two members of the Board of Directors.
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Concrete repairs being made at Lockington Dam will help inform future concrete repair at the other four dams.
Again, no assessment increase for flood protection
If you pay an assessment to MCD for flood protection, it may look like this on your tax bill.
SAMPLE ASSESSMENT
Did you know you haven’t seen an increase in your MCD assessment in more than seven years? And you won’t see one this year either.
People whose property flooded during the Great 1913 Flood—and now benefit from
the flood protection system—pay for its upkeep.
The “Miami Conservancy District” assessment on your local tax bill pays for the day-to-day maintenance of the five dry dams, 55 miles of levee, improved channel, and acres of preserved floodplain.
The “Dam Safety Initiative” assessment pays for capital improvements to the system.
The last change to MCD assessments was in 2012, with collection beginning in 2013. The need for additional assessments is reviewed annually.
Current Year Special Assessments
Dam Safety Initiative Fund $50.00 Miami Conservancy District $155.00