Public Employee Press

Flood fighters
As repairs begin on the 80-year-old Gilboa Dam in upstate New York,
DC 37 members are on the frontlines of a major flood prevention operation.

By DIANE S. WILLIAMS

Snowcaps of the Catskill Mountains melt and flow into rivers and streams, feeding the 19 upstate reservoirs that provide drinking ­water for 9 million residents of New York City. But the 80-year-old Gilboa Dam, whose 18-story walls hold 20 billion gallons of water at the Schoharie Reservoir, is crumbling.

“Gilboa is not up to current safety standards,” said Robert Weaver, a DEP Watershed Maintainer and Local 376 vice president.

“DC 37 followed up on news reports that the dam failed to meet today’s safety and engineering standards,” said Guille Mejia, a DC37 Safety and Health Dept. coordinator. “The Department of Environmental Protection was slow to respond. DC 37 forced their hand to get critical information.”

Eventually, DEP released a report revealing a computer simulation of a worst case scenario: Pressure behind the Gilboa Dam could compromise its walls.

If Gilboa Dam’s cracked and fissured walls should break, a massive flood would wipe out Middleburgh and hamlets in a 1,900 square mile area.

Watershed Maintainers have been on the frontlines of this flood watch.

“The Schoharie is the fastest rising reservoir in this area,” Weaver said. Schoharie Creek is one of the few rivers in this country that runs from south to north. It releases into the Mohawk and Hudson rivers, which flow into the Atlantic Ocean.

DEP has posted evacuation routes and issued residents weather radios for emergency use. But the city also has a “longstanding record of not being the best neighbor” and ignoring the needs of the surrounding communities, New York City Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff told a ­local newspaper March 13 as he toured theendangered dam.

As the crisis looms, the past is not just water under the bridge. Gilboa residents still harbor distrust of New York City, which took their land under the law of eminent domain before the dam was built.

Last September, Maintainers repaired three sinkholes—giant potholes about 6 feet in diameter, Weaver said. They immediately filled them and shored up the endangered dike. Since December, DEP has implemented emergency repairs on Gilboa. Full rehab of the dam is slated for completion in 2010.

Water watch
To protect the area, Maintainers daily monitor the dam, visually checking for anything out of the ordinary, watching reservoir elevations, and operating the aqueduct gates to ensure that waters are regularly released. All but three gates function to allow the daily flow of 520 million gallons of water.
The Maintainers also installed emergency fencing and a command post trailer in case the water rises above the spillway, as it does when spring melts winter snow.

“We also have workers in the 1st Precinct just below the dam,” Weaver said. “They are a little nervous.”

The precinct is dead center of the reservoir shore and would be wiped out if Gilboa breaks. Workers at Gilboa took the issue to the DC 37 Safety and Health Dept. They installed escape hatches high up on the precinct—windows of hope should the dam break.

As contractors move in to repair Gilboa Dam and bring it safely into the 21st century, DC 37 members stay on the watch as a first line of defense in flood prevention.