Waterbury Dam Broome Gate Structural Inspection and Evaluation

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Specifications include, but are not limited to: The State of Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation(DEC), Dam Safety Program (DSP) is seeking technical and feeproposals from qualified structural engineering firms experiencedwith the inspection and structural evaluation of large cable hoistactuated Broome gates or similar water control gates. The firm willinspect, perform engineering evaluation, and produce a writtenreport documenting the structural engineering evaluation, currentcondition, and provide recommendations for maintenance, repair,rehabilitation, or replacement, if warranted.The DEC DSP is the State’s owner representative at WaterburyDam, a depression era flood control dam that also provides forhydropower and recreation. Flow from the Little River/WaterburyReservoir generally passes through the dam via a 14 foot wide by 2 of 2411 foot high reinforced concrete tunnel. Located in the crest of theembankment is a reinforced concrete gatehouse that bisects thetunnel and houses a reportedly 40 Ton electric hoist actuatedBroome or head gate that can be operated to dewater the tunneldownstream of the gatehouse. The Broome gate is generally in theparked position roughly 130 feet above the tunnel base and is usedoccasionally for tunnel dewatering. When in the parked position, thegate is accessible from the gatehouse deck. However, either ropeaccess or a temporary floor system will likely need to be installedover the wet well below the gate for worker safety purposes. Whilethe hoist system is tested and inspected on an annual basis, thereare no records of structural inspection/evaluation of the Broome gatein DSP files.

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