Rehabilitation to Provide Drinking Water to the Township
WPA-era dam, long on a list of those most worrisome to the state, gets a second life.
project details
Client
East Stroudsburg Borough
Location
Monroe County, PA
Services
Industries
The East Stroudsburg Reservoir at the headwaters of Sambo Creek is a massive, 302-million-gallon Depression-era reservoir in Middle Smithfield Township that supplies drinking water for the borough of East Stroudsburg. The reservoir and accompanying hand-built, 50-foot-high by 800-foot-long dam were built in the 1930s under the federal government’s Works Progress Administration (WPA) program that employed people during the Great Depression. Fun fact: highlighting our long-term ties to the region, the dam’s original 1934 design drawings were by Edward C. Hess, P.E., a founding partner of what became RKR Hess, the forerunner of UTRS’s Civil Engineering Division.
State regulators had their eye on the Monroe County dam for some time and had placed it on a list of the PA’s second-most worrisome dams. The dam was considered a high potential hazard because of its size.
UTRS Civil Engineering provided dam rehabilitation design services, including overtopping protection, spillway replacement and repairs, drawdown system repairs, and stabilization measures. We also designed a half-acre wetlands replacement site, prepared state grant and loan applications for the project, and managed payment applications.
Civil Engineering Services Provided
Design Elements
Dam Stabilization Measures
Wetland Replacement Design
Financial Assistance Coordination
Our expertise goes beyond dam, levee, reservoir, and bridge assessment and remediation – we can also help your municipality find the funds to take action to modernize your infrastructure.
