Colliery Dam Update

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There was a meeting conducted by facilitator Ms Gordon and attended by the SFN and some members of city council including Mayor Ruttan on July 31.

The Colliery Dam Preservatiion Society was present and members from their group presented some findings about the condition of the middle dam that was most enlightening.

A retired Navy diver who is also a biologist has done some very impressive underwater investigation of the condition of the middle dam which appears to be in excellent condition beneath the waterline. There is some evidence of aging to concrete above the waterline, which is normal, but beneath the surface the concrete is in excellent condtion.

The diver found the presence of steel reinforcing at regular intervals and also presented some very interesting findings as to the fish and other aquatic life supported by the lake. He actually was fortunate enough to capture photos of young fish which still displayed some of their yoke sacks. Meaning they are not stocked fish. There is an abundance of crayfish and other creatures which support a rich environment for fish to grow in.

At this meeting Jeff Solomon from the Colliery Dams Preservation Society displayed a piece of the rebar from the dam, which measures over 1" thick and is clearly in very sound shape. It should be noted this is greater dimension rebar than is in common use today. If you recall originally the city engineer, Ms Clift was claiming the concrete was in poor condition and that the dams were not reinforced. I wonder if she actually left her desk to come to that conclusion.

All in all this was a very informative meeting, but like the rest of this process so far, we seem to always be short on time to give this matter the serious deliberation and study which it deserves. This whole time crunch should be completely unnecessary as the dams in no way present the 'emergency' situation that staff seem to have convinced some councillors exists.

City Councillors which seem to have made up their minds last November and seem unable to let any new 'facts' get in the way are Councillors Brennan, Greves, Johnstone, Anderson and Mayor Ruttan. Although in fairness, it would seem Mayor Ruttan is more open to this new information than the other mentioned councillors who seem totally unwilling or unable to comprehend the importance of the information being presented which is in stark contrast to the information presented by staff last October.