Dillon Dam and flood water control

ZANESVILLE, Ohio- There was little to no flooding in the local area due to less rain than expected as well as the work and preparation done by multiple agencies.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are here for flood risk management. Dillon Dam Project Manager Will Rutter said dams across the county, such as Dillon Dam, are there to store flood water. Dillon Dam can limit the amount of water that goes through to the Ohio River and even as far as the Mississippi River.

“We can shut the gates down or close the water flow to different varying degrees depending on what the impacts downstream are going to be. We can shut down to where there’s a very little bit and we can hold that excess water until it’s safe to open up and leave the drainage to go,” said Rutter.

Rutter said it’s currently safe to have the dam open, so it is releasing around 30,000 gallons of water a second. Over the weekend there was constant monitoring of the water levels.

“Friday, we shut down during the day and then we got a break in the rain and it looked okay so we opened back up and we were open for a period of 8 to 12 hours and then we came in, in the middle of the night between 1 and 5 A.M., and started shutting down. We’re roughly 23 feet above our normal winter pool and we still have about 40 percent capacity left,” said Rutter.

Rutter said Dillon Dam is still about 20 feet away from its record pool level. He said his staff did a great job and did so much work during the 24-hour watch to make sure people and property are safe.

“I think the public should be happy to know that we’ve got a lot of dedicated people here that are watching for them,” said Rutter.