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e inter 1 5 <br /> <br />A flock of wood ducks dodge and weave <br />os they moke their descent on a small Joke in <br />northern Minnesota. fie dam at the outlet is <br />barely visible, hidden by the thick stand of wild <br />rice.... At the Coon Rapids Dom water thunders <br />over the dom as another flock of geese take <br />fUght, rising over the children fishing just below <br />the rushing water. <br />What do these sites have in common? fiey <br />are both part of the inventory of aging dams <br />across Minnesota. <br />A recent report `Dams <br />in Minnesota' prepared by <br />the Department of Natural <br />Resources, Division of Waters <br />for the Legislature states that <br />there are on the order of <br />2,000 structures on <br />Minnesota waters that could <br />be defined os dams; <br />roughly 1 A00 of the dams <br />are publicly owned. <br />The dam safety unit in the DNR, Division of <br />Waters was created in 1978. It is responsible for <br />administrating legislation and agency rules, <br />maintaining a dam inventory, providing cost <br />shore grants for work on dams, and most <br />importantly, performing inspections. The DNR, <br />Division of Waters spends roughly S300A00 <br />annually on major repairs of state owned dams. <br />This is above and beyond the cost of inpections <br />and routine maintenance. The DNR, Section of <br />Wildlife spends approximately S75A00 <br />maintaining wlldiife Impoundments. <br />Approximately 900 dams represent a great <br />enough hazard potential to be ciassifled so they <br />are subject to state dam satiety rules. Dams are <br />assigned a hazard ctassiflcation based on <br />potential for property damage and loss of life <br />from the surge of water which would result from <br />a dam failure. <br />ThY Kotti® RN®r Dam <br />Hoar Standdon® is t>olnp <br />r®mov®d this wintsN. <br />R®movai costs are <br />®xpactad to r» <br />approximots*y 5210,000. <br />R®pair of ths+ dam would <br />hav® had o pric® tai d <br />n®ar S400,000. itw <br />r®movai of the dam wUl <br />rsrsult In s+xcellent <br />whit®wator on th® wild <br />and :conk firQr. <br />There are <br />about forty `high hazard' dams in the state <br />which are Inspected each year. C+ther dams, <br />such as lowhead mill dams, hove another <br />downside. fiey do not represent much <br />potential for damage in the case of failure but <br />act as `drowning machines' because of the <br />churning backwash or recirculating current just <br />downstream of the dam. Most of the lowhead <br />dams are old hydropower or mil! dams. Most <br />continued on 9... <br />the r®movai of fM dam hos r~storod th® r1v®r to its nolural <br />hoe ftowtnp slate. <br />s <br />fie Welch Dom has been the stt® of six documented drown- <br />fn~ fatalities within the last 20 years. <br />