Williams Lake Dam – Traction and Action!
By: Cathy Vaughan
[Reprinted with permission from Chebucto News – March, 2022]
Petitions, politicians and persistence have ultimately positioned the deteriorating Williams Lake dam on HRM Regional Council’s agenda! We have traction!
The Environment and Sustainability Standing Committee (ESSC) a sub-group of the Regional Council, has recommended that the city ask the province to take urgent action to fix Williams Lake dam by assuming a strong leadership role to move on this dam situation. We have action!
In December 2020, Regional Council approved Councillor Shawn Cleary’s motion to have city staff prepare a report that investigated the declining water levels in Williams Lake and recommend actions related to repairing and/or replacing the dam. This staff report was to address the influences of climate change, housing developments and other relevant factors that impact lake levels and water quality of this Spryfield lake. The staff report, which was prepared by experts at HRM’s Parks and Recreation department, was finally reviewed at the recent February meeting. But the resulting 5-page report was anti-climactic.
“The ESSC lake report underemphasized damage to the local ecosystem, recreational and community access, the natural beauty and the sense of urgency to fix the dam. We hope our mayor will show strong leadership as a start, until a project commitment to remediate the dam is in place. It is easier to save Williams Lake and surrounding treasured parks than replace them,” said Margo Kerr, founder of the Williams Lake Dam Association (WLDA) a vocal, citizen-action group advocating for saving this recreational lake.
Richard Harvey and the team from HRM’s Parks and Recreation authored the report. He says that “There was quite a bit of extensive work looking into this particular matter.” Harvey reported that “What we emphasized in the report is that the dam is very leaky. The dam is in-fact leaking to such an extent that it is undoubtedly causing the immediate problem.”
Murray Coolican, president of the Williams Lake Conservation Company (WLCC) submitted a comprehensive response to the thin staff report and said, “While we were disappointed that key elements affecting water levels were not accepted in the report, we are very supportive of the key recommendation of HRM asking the province to take the leadership role in fixing the dam.”
“Colleagues, I look forward to you supporting this; to get a letter to the province; to get a response back; to move this forward and finally to get a resolution.”
Councillor Shawn Cleary
Councillor Cleary added to the recommendations of the staff report by suggesting that the city consider making a financial contribution to the province for this project. “Because we own the Shaw Wilderness Park and the land on either side of the dam, we have ‘skin in the game,’” said Cleary.
There is now a sense of urgency to getting some traction on this recommendation. ESSC member, Deputy Mayor Pam Lovelace stressed that action was urgent and stated “I do think we do want to move this along faster if possible. There is a lot of complexity in moving forward. I do agree with the motion and we need the province to make a decision on it.”
In 2005, the YMCL Engineering firm of Halifax inspected the Williams Lake dam and concluded that “…the current dam is not designed to be a structure that can withstand overtopping of the crest.” That was 17 years ago and there has been a whole lot of lake water under that dam since! A recent inspection of the dam in January 2021 by local company Meco Engineering included a concerning caveat of a ‘dam-failure-model’ in their report. The simulation presented the potential consequences downstream if the dam were to completely rupture and breach. There is certainly a sense of urgency for action on the failing dam for the Shaw Wilderness Park, property owners, boat club and the Purcell’s Cove Road should the disintegrating dam fail. Currently, the dam is submerged under extremely high, lake levels and overtopping the crest!
Councillor Shawn Cleary summarized the recommendations of the staff report on Williams Lake to the ESSC by saying, “Colleagues, I look forward to you supporting this; to get a letter to the province; to get a response back; to move this forward and finally to get a resolution.” The ESSC’s recommendation will now go on the agenda of the March meeting of HRM Council for their action!