Dam repairs

For more than half a century, Clearwater Lake and Wappapello Lake have controlled flooding of the Black and St. Francis rivers, with the main beneficiary being the flat farmland south of Poplar Bluff, Mo.

Torrential rains in the spring of 2002 provided the toughest test ever at Clearwater Lake. The lake level rose to an all-time high as the spillway was closed to abate the rain-swollen Black River below the dam. A few months later, however, a sinkhole was discovered in the dam, and the U.S. Corps of Engineers has been working ever since to learn what caused it and how to ensure the integrity of the dam.

The solution, says the corps, is to slice the dam in half lengthwise and create a concrete core extending from the top of the dam down into the bedrock below. The cost is estimated at $90 million. The original Clearwater Lake project cost just over $9 million (approximately $72 million in today's dollars).

The cost of major projects these days is enormous. The new bridge in Cape Girardeau cost $100 million. The new federal courthouse under construction is expected to cost $50 million. So spending $90 million to leakproof the dam at Clearwater Lake comes as no surprise by comparison.

Flood-control reservoirs have saved hundreds of millions of dollars in flood damage over the years. An unsafe dam is more of a threat than uncontrolled runoff from the Black River. Unless a less expensive cure can be found, it looks like Clearwater Lake will become another sponge for federal dollars.