With many of the Sulphur Creek watershed’s nine floodcontrol dams aging and partially overgrown, an oversight group is trying to determine which structures need repairs the most.

Members of the Lampasas County Water Control and Improvement District No. 1 hope to spend about $46,000 this fiscal year to clear brush from three dams that control the flow of rainwater into Sulphur Creek and its tributaries.

The water control district recently spent $30,000 to repair the spillway of a dam about five miles west of Lampasas on Espy Creek. Funds provided for the reshaping and filling of a gully cut at the bottom of the spillway by heavy rains in 2007. The dam also was reseeded with native grass to control erosion.

In addition, the Lampasas City Council recently approved the expenditure of $15,000 for WCID No. 1. The Lampasas County Commissioners Court designated $1,500 for flood control dam repairs in the county’s budget this fiscal year.

The water control district board will use those funds as “seed money” to meet the local match requirement for a state grant of $29,879, said William J. McLean, WCID No. 1 president. State funding is provided by the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board’s Flood Control Operation and Maintenance Grant Program.

“We’re grateful for what the city and the county did for us,” McLean said. “It enabled us to have the match for the federal and state funding.”

With the combination of city, county and state funds, the WCID No. 1 board plans to select two or three dams to repair. If maintenance contracts for the structures are approved by Oct. 1, WCID No. 1 will receive another grant of $29,879 from TSSWCB for fiscal year 2010- 2011, McLean said.

As many as six flood-control structures could be rehabilitated in the next two years, McLean said, noting that he hopes repair work can begin by this summer.

Repair priorities depend on how obstructed a dam has become and how many homes or other buildings sit downstream of the various dams, said Rick Cantu, district conservationist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service. Because of Lampasas County’s population growth, some structures have been elevated from “significant hazard” to “high hazard.”

“They’re all in need of maintenance,” Cantu said, adding that some dams are as much as 50 years old. “Some are just worse than others.”

The water control district board has drafted a tentative plan to clear brush and perform other maintenance activities on all nine WCID No. 1 dams by 2013. Cantu noted, however, that the maintenance plan is subject to change, as is the conservative estimate of $123,500 needed for all repairs.

Because brush has grown up among rocks on the front and back slopes of some dams, clearing the structures may be slower and more expensive than originally planned, Cantu said.

“It’s going to be some pretty hard work -- a lot of hand work -- to remove that brush,” the conservationist said.

The dams’ storage capacities range from 185 acre-feet to 5,449 acre-feet. Draw-down tubes in the structures control the level of water in the dams. If the water rises to a higher level than pipes can handle, the water is slowed and managed as it flows around an emergency spillway.

Recalling the damage caused by the May 1957 flood, McLean said the WCID No. 1 dams prevented similar destruction from occurring when Lampasas received heavy rains throughout the spring of 2007.

“If we hadn’t had all these dams holding the water, it would have been 10 times as bad,” he said. “There’s no doubt in my mind they’ve saved Lampasas’ bacon several times.”

Cantu agreed that in 2007 the dams worked exactly as planned. By assisting with one- and fiveyear inspections and fixing dams as funds become available, NRCS hopes to keep the structures sound, he added. “Through regular operation and maintenance, we hope they’re going to keep working for a long time,” he said.