The Ministry of Natural Resources has had a flood of comments pour into its office over the past month concerning the deteriorating state of two dams in the area.
The public was invited to submit comments on the future of Footprint Lake dam and the Manitou River (Esox Lake) dam. Last Wednesday was the deadline for comments to be received by the ministry.
“We still received quite a few up to the last day,” said Rachel Hill of the MNR office here. “We’ve had a lot of response on the Footprint dam.”
At issue is the possibility of decommissioning the two dams rather than fixing or reconstructing them. Safety is becoming a concern with the dams so the ministry must make a decision on their future.
The cost of rebuilding or fixing the dams is estimated at about $1.5 million per dam.
An open house was held here Jan. 14 so the public could get a better sense of what was going on, why, and what the ministry’s options where. The response then also was high, with well over 50 people turning up in the first few hours.
The next step for the ministry is to go through the multitude of comments received regarding both dams and then make a recommendation as to what action to should be taken.
It may be decided that more detailed impact studies need to be made, especially if it is decided that one or both of the dams should be decommissioned without building a new structure.
The ministry still is sifting through responses and estimated it will be at least a week before anything can be reported.
“We’re not sure what direction we’ll be going yet,” said Hill.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
