Solid Structure
OAKLAND TWP — The structure holding much of Butler County's drinking water is much improved.
Pennsylvania American Water completed its more than $9 million rehabilitation of the Lake Oneida dam on Wednesday.
The dam, which was originally built in 1918, was re-enforced with concrete, making it able to withstand nature's heaviest storms.
“This was a project where we got a lot of cooperation from the community,” said Tony Nokovich, the senior engineer for the project. “Everything went very smoothly in the common goal of making this a safer dam.”
The 38-foot tall, 830-foot wide dam creates a storage capacity of 573 million gallons of water. It serves about 18,000 residents in 12 municipalities.
“It's a primary source of water,” Nokovich said.
A water main takes water from the lake to Pennsylvania American Water's treatment plant in the township.
The construction project was done to get the dam to comply with the state's Department of Environmental Protection standards.
“The dam didn't meet the specifications from the DEP,” Nokovich said. “This will get it there.”
The biggest improvement was widening the dam's spillway and installing drainage features to safely remove seepage from the dam.
It was the second project of its kind for the water company in the township in recent years.
The Thorn Run dam had its own $9 million rehabilitation project, which was completed in 2011. That dam, originally built in 1903, is 38 feet tall, 660 feet wide and stores 205 million gallons of water.
Nokovich said he was excited to conclude the project and was happy with the construction process.
There were about 20 workers on site every day during the 14 months of construction.
“We never had any service interruptions,” he said.
“That's something that's pretty important.”
Nokovich also joked that the construction did not disrupt any fishing holes.
The dam will continue to be monitored frequently.
Nokovich said there is one formal inspection of the structure every year, but added there are eyes on the dam every week.
