PONDERAY, Idaho – There was a large turnout at a community meeting hosted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Thursday to discuss progress on the Albeni Falls Dam.
Many residents in the area have been concerned about water levels at Lake Pend Orielle and the Pend Orielle River.
Since 2023, USACE has been working on an Albeni Falls Dam restoration project.
On May 1, they reported that they have been working to modify spillway operations after metal defects were discovered on a single gate during a routine inspection in April.
USACE has been working to repair the gate and said that until every gate is thoroughly inspected, the organization must presume that the other gates have the same defects.
While doing repairs, they have to minimize gate movements to ultimately minimize gate failure.
“The gate failure would result in losing the ability, in the long term, to manage lake levels. So we’re only going to move ‘em [the gates] when it’s absolutely necessary to control the lake refill and to manage flood risk,” Col. Kathryn Sanborn, the Seattle District Commander for USACE, said Thursday.
The public had the opportunity to ask questions to USACE leaders at the meeting.
Some crowd members booed USACE and voiced their frustrations with the leaders for the low water levels caused by this dam repair process.
USACE maintained they must conservatively operate to reduce the risk of catastrophic failure with the dam.
Sanborn added that this overall Albeni Falls Restoration process may take years to be fully completed to ensure the dam is safe.
