NORTHAMPTON – The City of Northampton has been awarded $250,000 in grant money from the Commonwealth for rehabilitating the Francis Ryan Reservoir Dam and West Whately Reservoir Dam, including addressing their inadequate spillway capacity.
“We need to make these long-term repairs,” said Northampton Mayor David Narkewicz.
The money is part of $10,265,932 in grants and loans announced last week by the Baker-Polito administration that were awarded via its Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs through its Dam and Seawall Program.
Narkewicz expressed appreciation for the grant money, and he said the dams are “critical components,” of the city’s water infrastructure.
He said that the money will cover 30 percent of the design and engineering costs of the repairs.
“The city would cover the remaining 70 percent,” he said, or $600,000.
The spillways relieve pressure on the dams when water levels are high, preventing breaches. In the city’s grant application to the state, however, it asserts that the two dams do not have adequate spillway capacity.
“We want to increase the spillway capacity to mitigate the risk of overtopping the dam,” said Northampton DPW Director Donna LaScaelia.
LaScaelia said that the project would also allow the storage capacity of the two dams to increase.
The design process is estimated to be roughly 24 months, and LaScaleia said she expects to execute a contract with the state for the grant and begin the process as soon as possible. The city also needs to hire a designer.
“We will move as quickly as possible to make that happen,” she said.
Bera Dunau can be reached at bdunau@gazettenet.com.