Crooks’ Hollow Dam demolition goes to tender

[Spiel]

Crooks' Hollow Dam demolition goes to tender

 

July 22, 2011

http://www.thespec.com

 

 

DUNDAS The Hamilton Conservation Authority is hoping to issue a call for tenders on the demolition of Crooks' Hollow Dam by the end of this month.

 

If all goes according to plan, work will begin by late August and take about two months to complete, said Hazel Breton, the project's manager.

 

Early stages will focus on removing 4,000 cubic metres of zinc-contaminated sediment and returning a 400-metre stretch of creek upstream to a meandering route.

 

A new bridge over the creek will also be built about 30 metres upstream from an existing one, she told members of the authority's water management advisory board.

 

"The physical removal of the dam will be one of the last things that we do," Breton said, noting rainy weather could delay replanting until next spring in an area by the creek's banks where the contaminated sediment will be deposited and capped.

 

"I'll warn you, it won't look great to start with because it's quite soupy and has to dry out," she said. "The vegetation will take awhile, a couple of years, to come into its own."

 

The authority has held three open houses since February to keep neighbouring residents apprised of the $1.2-million project's progress and Breton said there has been general acceptance of the plan — so much so only nine people attended the latest one on June 28.

 

She said the sediment poses no health risk and public input has led to some changes to the project, particularly to retain some of the dam's features to acknowledge its historical role. Completed in 1916, the dam and its reservoir served Dundas with potable water until 1959 and provided flood control until the Christie dam took over that function in 1971.