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| BOR eyeing flood wall for Bowman Dam |
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| Future plans include a public hearing in Prineville tentatively planned for July 21 |
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By Jason Chaney
Flood prevention plans for Bowman Dam moved forward recently as a decision was made to build a parapet wall.
Following a Bureau of Reclamation management meeting on June 2, the bureau approved a plan to build the six-foot-tall parapet wall on the upstream side running the full length of the dam.
According to Bureau of Reclamation Safety of Dams program manager Larry Wolfe, the parapet wall was the least expensive of several options considered. The expected cost of the project is about $7.5 million.
“We looked at five or six spillway options,” he said. “They all included a parapet wall as an option.”
However, Wolfe added that management considered only two of the total options — the parapet wall and a wall with a tunnel spillway. The spillway option carried a cost of about $50 million versus about $7.5 million for a wall without a tunnel spillway.
“The (spillway) option reduced risk further,” Wolfe said, “but in doing so you’re creating other new structures and those options were more expensive.”
A less expensive project cost also means a smaller expense for the Ochoco Irrigation District (OID), which is required to pay 15 percent of the total cost.
Former OID manager Russ Rhoden is pleased with the bureau’s choice.
“We’re happy about it,” he said. “It’s about the safety of the dam and the safety of the community. We’re concerned about safety, but we’re also worried about cost. It seems to be the most cost-effective fix.”
While the decision has been made, there are more hurdles to clear before construction of the parapet wall begins.
“In the next nine to 10 months we will be carryinng out the NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) process.”
The process includes a tenatively planned public hearing in Prineville on July 21.
“It will be an informational meeting and scoping meeting,” Wolfe said of the hearing.
An announcement with more specific details on the hearing will be made within the next couple weeks.
Following the NEPA process, a NEPA document is presented to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), a division of the federal government’s executive branch.
Once the OMB reviews the project and ensures that the money funding the project will be used wisely and correctly, the project is turned over to Congress.
It must sit in Congress for 30 calendar days and if no adverse action is taken during that time, the project is approved.
Wolfe believes these future steps will be completed within the next two years.
“For construction, we’re looking at some time in 2011,” he said.
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