Officials Visit Elk Creek Dam Rehab Project

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September 10, 2021

By News Director Jared Atha

Local, state, and federal officials toured the Upper Elk Creek Site 23D Rehabilitation on the east edge of Elk City on Tuesday.

New life is being given to this flood control dam and the tour was a way to showcase those efforts along with the watershed project sponsor, North Fork of Red River Conservation District. Originally constructed in 1976 at a cost of just over $100,000 and classified as a significant hazard dam, this is now a high hazard dam. An increase in risk of loss of life and property damage due to a potential over-topping breach of the dam during an extreme flood event is the reason site 23D is undergoing the rehabilitation.

Although Site 23D is functioning as originally planned and providing downstream flood damage prevention, this rehabilitation means that in the future, Site 23D will reduce the potential of a dam breach and subsequent potential damage to downstream properties and infrastructure and will reduce the risk of loss of life.

Additionally, the rehabilitation of site 23D allows for the service life of the dam to be extended for at least a century.

In the project, the top of dam elevation is being increased by 4.4 feet. Due to the raised top of dam elevation, the county road is being raised as well. A new 30-inch reinforced concrete pipe is being installed using a technique known as “jack and bore.” Articulated concrete blocks are being added to the exit channel of the spillway to provide erosion protection and prevent head cutting. The contractor for the rehabilitation construction is C-P Integrated Services, Inc., of Oklahoma City. The rehabilitation construction costs are $4.3 million, 65 percent of this cost is provided by the federal government while 35 percent is provided by the Conservation Commission on behalf of the watershed project sponsor, North Fork of Red River Conservation District.

One form of support for the project was the passage of SB 1938, authorizing the Oklahoma Capitol Improvement Authority for bond issuance in the amount of $17.5 million on behalf of the Oklahoma Conservation Commission. These funds are being used for the repair and rehabilitation of high-hazard dams pursuant to the Conservation District Act.

Those touring the site included Elk City officials, a Conservation Commissioner and staff, along with Oklahoma Secretary of Agriculture Blayne Arthur and State Representative Todd Russ, USDA-NRCS engineers and staff, Trey Lam, executive director of the Oklahoma Conservation Commission, and Congressman Frank Lucas.

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