PROVIDENCE– The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) will offer an overview of repairs planned for the Silver Spring Lake Dam at the North Kingstown Town Council meeting set for Monday, March 14. The meeting will be held at 7 PM at the Beechwood Senior Center, 44 Beach Street, North Kingstown.
Built in the 1950s, the state-owned dam impounds the Mattatuxet River to form the 17-acre Silver Spring Lake in North Kingstown. Located just west of the junction of Route 4 and Route 1, the site is popular for fishing and small craft boating. DEM also stocks Silver Spring Lake with trout.
The dam has been deemed a high-hazard structure in poor condition, rated with an unsafe status in the most recent dam safety report. The reconstruction work will include repairs to the stone masonry spillway and cracked embankment walls. Construction will involve the installation of a cofferdam, which is a temporary wall positioned along the dam that holds the water back, allowing access to the dam for repairs. The Silver Spring Lake dam is one of six high hazard, unsafe dams owned by DEM that DEM is in the process of repairing. After the repairs, it will still be classified as a high hazard dam – meaning it would still have the potential to cause the loss of human life if it were to fail – but it would no longer be rated unsafe. Work on another of these dams, the Wyoming Upper Reservoir Dam in Hopkinton and Richmond, is nearing completion.
The Silver Spring Lake dam repairs are expected to start in the spring. DEM will make every effort to minimize the impacts to the public during this project. Fishing access near the dam will be limited as the work will include the closure of a portion of the parking lot closest to the dam. The northern end of the parking lot and small craft launch will remain open for public use. The repair work is expected to be completed by the end of the year. Funding for the $1.2 million project is supported by the 2018 Green Economy Bond, a FEMA High Hazard Potential Dams Grant, and through the RI Capital Plan Fund.
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