The small dam in the hills above Larsen Bay is in “dire straits” according to State Representative Louise Stutes. The dam above the village is eroding to the point of full collapse if not repaired in the near future.

The concrete intake structure incorporated into the dam that was constructed three decades ago is eroding to the point where the spillway will soon not be able to handle the load and collapse occurs. The construction of the dam was done by the Alaska Energy Authority in the late 1980’s when the hydroelectric plant was built to supply the village with electricity which up until that time was powered solely by diesel generators.

The dam is responsible for hydroelectric generation as well as the vast majority of the community’s potable water.

Beaver dams upstream from the dam helps in keeping the load off of the hydro dam, but those dams have been known to fail in the past. In 2011 five of those beaver dams failed pouring water into the dam to the point of overflow.

The failure of the dam structure has the potential to destroy a smaller dam further downstream that supplies the Trident Seafoods processing plant with water for its operations.

  break, damage, erosion, larsen bay hydroelectric, overflow, potable, trident seafoods, water