Safety At Dams - Illinois Department of Natural Resources

The IDNR Office of Water Resources (OWR) manages the Dam Removal program in Illinois.  This includes providing technical assistance and/or funding to government entities interested in improving safety around the dams which may include restoring the natural function of the river.  The OWR has developed a guidance document for local governements having a run of the river dam within their jurisdiction.  This guidance document is linked below:

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Dam Removal Guidance Document

If a local governement is interested in the program, they should send a containing a request for assistance on official letterhead to .  The OWR will follow up by scheduling an inital coordination call.    Further direction about the general process of the project is explained in the guidance document.  Assistance will be prioritized as follows:

1. State Owned Dams of Public Water
2. Publicly Owned Dams on Public Water
3. Publicly Owned Dam on Non-Public Water
4. Privately Owned Dams will not be considered.

Public Safety

The run-of-river dams are also dangerous to the public. There are dangerous currents under the surface of the water on the downstream side of the dam that can trap and capture people who go over the dam and capture/trap users that approach the dam from the downstream side.

Water Quality

Run-of-river dams degrade the quality of water by creating a stagnate pool of water that has diurnal fluctuations in dissolved oxygen that is conducive to large algal blooms.

Aquatic Habitat & Fish Passage

The run-of-river dams are harmful to aquatic habitat by both creating a barrier to the free movement of fish and mussels in an upstream direction and the poor water quality in the pool upstream of the dam.

Reduced Costs

A dam comes with many expenses including inspections and reporting, maintenance, rehabilitation, rescue training, insurance and potential litigation.

Recreation

Dam removal allows a continuous water trail for paddling enthusists and removes the burden of portaging around the structure. 

Will dam removal cause the river dry up?

This depends on the stream and not on the dam.  Run of River Dams do not change how much flow is occurring in the river.  Larger rivers such as the Fox River have constant flow, or base flow, throughout the year.  Therefore they will not dry up.  Smaller tributaries may only flow following rainfall events.  In this case, the area behind the dam may be dry during dry times of the year.

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Will the area turn into smelly mud flats?

Sediment in rivers found near banks or other areas often contain native seeding that when dried due to the removal of the dam, begin to become vegitated shortly after.  Sand and gravel are not suitable material for vegetative growth.  An odor is typically not present due to dewatering the pool.  

What will be the impact on fishing?

If you fish at the downstream face of the dam, you may find that fishing may not be as abundant after removal as the fish will no longer be trapped in this area. Our fish monitoring has shown substaintial increases quantity of fish and variety of species in the former pool and throughout the connecting waters.  

How much will the water level drop after removal?

This is dependant on a number of condition including how much flow is in the river, how close to dam are you and how tall was the dam.  This can only be evaluated with river survey and engineering computations, though some estimates can be provided.

The Forest Preserves of Cook County (FPCC) owns seven low-head dams on the Des Plaines River and North Branch Chicago River. These dams were built between and for recreation, transportation, and sanitary waste purposes. In addition, these dams were identified to be causing a decline in habitat quality by altering normal river hydraulics and hydrology within the river channel and its adjacent floodplain, while deterring the natural recolonization of fish. Based on this, FPCC is partnering with the Chicago District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACoE) and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) to remove or modify these seven dams. Dempster Avenue Dam was constructed around , and scheduled for removal in Fall .

As networks of railroads spread across the United States, engineers were also busy building thousands of dams. Steam locomotives required large amounts of water, and in areas of the arid west, that was often hard to come by. Thus, reservoirs were constructed adjacent to tracks to supply the trains with water.

Dams were usually constructed with masonry and large blocks of quarried stone, which was very labor-intensive. Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway engineer Francis H. Bainbridge had an idea. The railroad company was already purchasing steel in bulk for the construction of tracks, trestles, and bridges. If steel could be used to build the dams as well, it would save the company time and money.

Construction on the dam began in and was finished early the next year. Pieces of the dam were constructed off-site and assembled in Johnson Canyon. The final cost was a relatively inexpensive $63,500, or approximately $2 million today. Although the steel dam proved much cheaper and faster to construct than masonry dams, there were justified concerns about its long-term integrity. Only three steel dams were constructed in the U.S., and today the Ashfork-Bainbridge Dam is the only one that still holds a reservoir.

Although they supported the experiment, from the start, the railroad company didn't trust that the steel dam would work. Around 13 years later, a masonry dam was constructed a mile upstream from the Ashfork-Bainbridge Dam, so that if the steel dam failed, there was still a reservoir in place to supply water for their needs. Although the railroad is gone, both dams are still functional today.

The land around the Ashfork-Bainbridge Steel Dam is now a part of the Kaibab National Forest. The steel dam was added to the National Register of Historic Places in .

It can be somewhat difficult to find the roads and trails that reach the dam on online maps. The easiest access is off US Interstate 40. Take the Welch Road exit and turn onto Forest Road 6.

After about a mile, take a sharp left onto Forest Road 6E, which is an unmaintained remnant of the historic Route 66. Stay on that road for about two miles, then turn right onto a road that goes north towards the Masonry Number Two Reservoir.

After about half a mile on this road, you'll reach the trailhead of the Stone to Steel Trail. The trail is about a mile long and starts near the masonry dam and ends at the Ashfork-Bainbridge Steel Dam.