Record '08 flooding damages Janesville dam
Photo
Possible signs of damage at the Centerway Dam, in downtown Janesville.
JANESVILLE — Record flooding in 2008 could be to blame for damage at the Centerway Dam.
Several boards have come loose, allowing more water to pour over the dam and cutting electricity generated at the dam. North American Hydro owns the dam and the energy it produces.
Heavy debris carried in the floodwaters probably contributed to the damage, said Rob Davis of the Department of Natural Resources.
“It certainly didn’t help,” he said.
“We don’t feel this is a public safety issue, or we would be dealing with it immediately,” Davis said. “It’s more of a maintenance cosmetic issue, but it’s something that certainly needs to be taken care of.”
The company and the Department of Natural Resources are developing a plan to repair the dam after Labor Day, when water levels usually are at their lowest and the recreation season has usually slowed, said Greg Brzozowski, regional manager at the company.
Brzozowski called the repairs “preventative” and said the company is waiting on permits from the Department of Natural Resources before work can begin.
Repairing the broken boards would result in the generation of more energy, he said. With the damage, more water is running downstream than is passing through the turbines to create energy.
Jul 15, 2009 at 8:50 a.m.
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Boards? Why were boards being used in the dam? I would think that they would rot much faster than cement. Wonder if there is a stone grinder in there for all the corn they grind?
Jul 14, 2009 at 11:06 p.m.
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Wow -- nice to see this story! If this dam failed, not only would downtown be a lot more boring, but the Aquajays would be stuck in the mud (literally!).
Sannio, for your information, the official nameplate power capacity of the damn is 500 kilowatts. If you assume an average apartment uses about 1 kilowatt, this will power 500 apartments or so. Not all that impressive, but enough to power most of the downtown apartments.
I would guess that's more than enough to power all of the traffic lights in Janesville (especially if they use LED's), but I really don't know how many traffic lights there are in Janesville.
Source: http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/water/wm/...
Jul 14, 2009 at 10:47 p.m.
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Dam? As a "commoner" with a basic working knowledge of architecture and man-made things, Mother Nature trumps EVERYTHING we could ever fathom!
Jul 14, 2009 at 6:26 p.m.
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Maybe things have changed, or maybe he was wrong, but I had an electronics instructor tell us once that the generator at the dam provides enough electricity to power the stop lights in Janesville.
Jul 14, 2009 at 5:19 p.m.
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Best dam story this week!
Jul 14, 2009 at 4:47 p.m.
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The only good thing about water is that it looks like vodka.
Jul 14, 2009 at 4:22 p.m.
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WOW!!! This is breaking news
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