President’s Letter

Dear Member,

During this winter, the Board of Directors main concern has been planning for the spillway repairs to Indian Lake dam. The cost estimates for the original plan were so much higher than anticipated. The Dam committee went back to the drawing board to determine if there was a more economical approach available. Working with our engineer, Terry Allen, they have developed a step approach that if approved by DENAR may reduce the overall cost or at the least it can eliminate some expenses in the case the approach does not work.

The original plan called for replacing the French drainage system on both sides of the spillway. If it worked that would be great. If it didn’t that money would have been wasted since the next step would have been to replace part or the entire spillway. The step approach is to have a local contractor to replace the existing drainage system from one side of the dam. The drain will not be closed (soil over the drain fill) until it is determine if this relieves the hydraulic pressure from beneath the spillway.

If it works there is the possibility that the other side’s drainage system may not have to be disturbed. Or it may work but indicate that the same work needs to be performed on the other side. Worst case is that the approach is proven unsuccessful. It that case, the experiment has prevented us from wasting funds on a completely new drain system that does not solve the problem. At that point planning would have to start on a massive project to
replace the spillway.

At the present the engineer and the committee are working on revising the plans that were submitted to DENAR. After we receive feedback from DENAR the committee and the Board will make a definitive decision on our course of action.

The bottom line, the hydraulic pressure under the spillway must be remedied and the corrective actions will be expensive. If spillway replacement becomes a part of the solution the cost will be extremely expensive! Be assured that the Board will do everything in its power to solve this problem in the most economic way possible.

If you have any specific questions or suggestions on this topic please funnel them through John Pappas
([email protected]), chairperson of the Dam Committee.

Hope to see you at Indian Lake Estates soon,

Everett Bedenbaugh
President Indian Lake Club, Inc
[email protected]
(m) 864-980-3349 864-980-3349 FREE
(h) 864-543-3757 864-543-3757 FREE
(ILE) 828862-6432