1. The uninsurable Winchester Dam was condemned in 1976. It is rated a “High Hazard.” meaning it will kill people when it fails.
2. The crumbling 135-year-old dam is rated in “poor” condition and is not attached to the bedrock under the dam.
3. The dam leaches toxic chemicals (arsenic, chromium, and copper) 50 feet upstream of the public drinking water source for 37,700 people–one out of three county residents.
4. The dam provides no electricity, irrigation, or flood control.
5. The dam’s sole function is as a “recreational” private water-ski lake for a few rich property owners, at the exclusion of the public.
6. The dam is an insurmountable barrier to migratory native fish. Fish populations at the dam are plummeting. The 17-foot Winchester Dam is too high for native fish to jump. The “water surface elevation jump height … which exceed criteria for Catodsomus species and juvenile salmonids…” and “inadequate water depths below the crest of the dam, for downstream, migrating fish species that pass over the dam to ensure fish safely fall into water of adequate depth. This discrepancy in design standards and criteria can result in fish falling directly onto the concrete apron, or rocks immediately below the dam, which can result in fish injury, harm, and mortality.”
7. The dam owners illegally store more river water than their water rights allow.
8. The derelict dam leaks twice as bad as it did before the $3 million August 2023 botched repairs.
9. Dams don’t keep out smallmouth bass – cold undammed rivers naturally repel invasive species.
10. The Winchester Dam can be removed at no cost to its owners.
