Casco dam is leaky

By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

CASCO — Casco has a dam problem again.

But, it’s one with a resolution on the horizon.

The newly-constructed dam has a two spots where it is leaking, according to Holly Hancock, the Casco Board of Selectmen Chairman who also served on the Pleasant Lake-Parker Pond Dam subcommittee.

“There are two different leaks,” Hancock said.

“One is the gate. The other is a leak that is from the place between the dam at the north end, between the ledge and the dam or around the outer side,” she said.

So far, the contractor T-Buck Construction has “sealed the crack with polyfoam and clay but the gate is still leaking,” Hancock said.

“We are waiting for them to build us a lift, a wood block to put in the slot. We are waiting on that to be finished. T-Buck hired someone to build a winch to get the gate out,” she said.

She talked about how the leak around the gate seal started.

“We opened it and tried to close it and it didn’t seal right,” she said.

“We are having a stop log, a barrier, being built by a local contractor so that the gate can be dewatered,” she said.

Hancock updated the board during the Sept. 26 meeting, saying that once the gate was opened and did not close properly, “it is sitting just enough so that water is coming through that gate.”

Hancock told the board that the Town of Casco was withholding funds for the final payment to the contractor until the dam is free of leaks.

“So, we have not made the last payment to T-Buck in anticipation of getting it fixed,” she said.

Casco Town Manager Dave Morton said that T-Buck Construction has been “very respectful” of the town’s request that the product be working properly before a payment is made.

“Yes, he has been. They are doing their best,” Hancock said. “We are dealing with the various changes on what needed to happen.”

Morton said the new dam is better than the old one.

“The issue of the leak is not terribly dramatic. We are talking half a gallon a minute. The old dam leaked hundreds of gallons per minute,” he said.

“We want to make sure we have the tight seal,” Morton said.