With word last week that Saras Enterprises Ltd. of Winnipeg had been awarded the $1.34-million contract to build a new dam on Footprint Lake northwest of here, all seems to be on schedule for now.
“They plan to move in next week,” said Allen Chow, the MNR engineer for the Footprint dam. “Just one day after [June] 15.”
Chow explained they weren’t allowed to begin work in the water around the dam until after June 15 because of fish spawning.
He also noted three tenders were received for the project. The tender process was weighted 70 percent on the side of the amount of the tender and 30 percent on scheduling and the construction sequence plans, etc.
On the money side, things were close. “Very close to each other,” Chow said. “Within $20,000 apart.”
But Chow added when everything was factored in, “it wasn’t a hard decision.”
“The [construction] window is June 15-Sept. 15 [for in-water work],” he noted. “From their [Saras’] construction schedule, you could see there was some thought put into how to get the work done [in that window].”
Saras has previous dam construction experience. “Our main focus in the past has been bridge construction and dam reconstruction and restoration,” said company president Harold Jeske.
The other two construction companies to tender bids were United Contracting of Thunder Bay and J.T.J. Contracting in Emo.
“[Saras] begin to mobilize on Monday,” said Chow. “They’ll move in equipment and put up fences to secure the site.”
By mid-week, Chow estimated they will begin the coffer dam that will divert water from the existing dam to allow easy access for demolition and construction.
“The new dam will be built on the existing footprint of the old dam,” explained Chow, adding that “they’re going to remove all the bad concrete [from the old dam].”
“From looking at it, it will be most of the concrete.”
The new dam will be built on the same spot as the old one, but it will be designed differently.
For instance, rather than having control gates on both parts of the dam—which is bisected by a small island—both gates will be put on one side of the island.
To do this, more room must be made and so some rock will have to be excavated. “Removing the rock will be time-consuming,” Chow remarked.
One reason for the switch is that it had become dangerous to navigate to the opposite side of the island over a spillway to reach a control gate during the serious flooding the area saw in the last few years.
Chow said the coffer dam will be built assuming normal flows. He estimated they could lose a couple of days if flooding similar to last year happens again, but hopes that it won’t slow construction too much.
The project is scheduled to be complete by Oct. 31 but the contractor must complete the “in-water work” by Sept. 15. Chow said this date also was chosen by MNR biologists, and is determined by water temperatures as to not affect the fish.
Chow hopes the whole project is complete by the time the snow flies.
“That’s what we hope for, so that’s why we don’t need the rain like last year,” he said.
Other features of the new dam that will make it “better” than the old one include an OGEE spillway that is more contoured than the previous dam, creating less resistance for the water, and a safer hand chain hoist will replace a hand winch for the stop lock.
“I’m excited because I know the condition of this dam is not very good,” Chow said. “This [new] dam will be good for another 50 years.”
Meanwhile, the fate of a second dam—located on Esox Lake in the Manitou River watershed northeast of here—still is being evaluated by the MNR.
The options for that dam are similar, ranging from building a new one to entirely removing it to return to the natural hydrology of the watershed.
(Fort Frances Times)
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
