Monroe County will receive $2.4 million from the federal government to go toward the total cost of the Goose Pond Dam rehabilitation project.

Tyler Day, a representative from U.S. Rep. Robert Bresnahan Jr.’s office, announced the award at the commissioners’ meeting earlier this month, and said more information about the project would be coming shortly.

Goose Pond Dam is one of two dams slated for rehabilitation in Monroe County. The other is the Leavitt Branch Dam.

According to presentation in the spring of 2024 titled “Public Information Meeting, Review of Rehabilitation Alternatives, Brodhead Tributaries Watershed,” the total cost of construction for both projects is estimated to be between $26 million and $34 million.

The share of the cost that is Monroe County’s responsibility for both dams is estimated to be between $7.5 million and $12 million, said Robert Gress, the chief clerk for Monroe County.

“Leavitt Branch Dam estimate was $18.5 to $22 million, but with the spikes in construction costs, we won’t know,” he said. Once bids come in for the project, then the county will know the actual costs of the two projects.

Gress said the U.S. Department of Agriculture will cover 65% of the cost to repair both dams. The USDA also is preparing the plans for the projects.

Separately, Goose Pond could cost the county upward of $4.2 million; and Leavitt could be as much as $7.7 million.

In order to help the county cover its share of the cost, “we will be looking for additional federal funding and other dollars for the projects,” Gress said.

The dams were created as flood control projects. Goose Pond Dam was built in 1975, and Leavitt Branch Dam in 1976. Goose Pond is a 101-foot-high compacted earth fill dam, and 1,286 feet long. It covers 4 acres of reservoir water surface. Leavitt is a 96-foot-high dam of the same type that is 886 feet long. It covers 2 acres of reservoir water surface but was designed as a dry dam. Both areas where the dams were built had a high potential of hazardous flooding in the town of Canadensis. A flood on Aug. 15, 1955, caused $1.1 million in damage and the loss of nine lives.

Although the dams are not less safe than when they were built, they no longer meet current safety and performance standards, according to the presentation in 2024. There is no imminent dam safety hazards. The county is simply taking of any issues now before they become a problem.

One of the deficiencies with both dams is that if there were 22.77 inches of rain within six hours, the water could flow over top of the dam. At the Leavitt Branch Dam, the spillway could breach if there was a storm that dropped 10.31 inches of rain in 24 hours.

The work includes minor repairs to the concrete structures, an upgrade to the internal drainage system at the Goose Pond Dam, improvements to the auxiliary spillways that include changing the Weir crest, reinforcing the downstream channel lining, and dissipating channel energy.

The anticipated time frame has the design work being completed in 2026, followed by permitting to be completed by 2028. Construction would take about two years during the construction season with completion by 2030.