Mahar Dam Removal Presentation: February 1, 2011

SENT TO ALL LOCAL NEWS AGENCIES
January 24, 2011

On February 1, 2011 at 6:30 PM GZA GeoEnvironmental, Inc. Project Manager, Derek Schipper and Norwood District Office Manager William H. Hover will present the findings and recommendations of the Mahar Dam Removal Project to the Ralph C. Mahar Regional School Committee and to the general public. At the conclusion of the presentation committee members and members of the general public will have the opportunity to ask and have answered their questions about the removal of the Mahar Dam.

In September 2009 the Ralph C. Mahar Regional School District received a letter from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs informing that the Mahar Dam was classified to be in “Poor Condition.” This letter set forth a series of costly inspections and evaluations that ultimately called upon the Ralph C. Mahar Regional School Committee to make a difficult decision. The committee could have chosen to repair the dam or to have it removed altogether, but leaving it in its current state was not an option.

The final decision was to move forward with dam removal and restore the waterway to its original condition before the dam was created in the 1950’s. Dam removal was the more cost effective of the two options. The Mahar Regional School Phase I Dam Inspection/Evaluation Report indicated that the total cost of dam repair was estimated at more than a half of a million dollars and costly inspections or repairs could continue as long as the dam was in existence. The more cost effective option of dam removal is expected to cost approximately $300,000.00 – but this amount will only have to be paid once.

Many townspeople in Orange have been particularly concerned with the repair or removal of the dam. Officials from the Towns of Wendell, New Salem and Petersham have also been concerned because the cost of dam removal will affect the budgets of all four member towns. Letters will be sent to abutters to the Ralph C. Mahar Regional School District specifically to invite them to the February 1 presentation which will be approximately 20 minutes in duration.