The municipality of Summerland is examining whether a crack observed at Thirsk Dam will require repairs.
Devon van der Meulen, manager of water utilities for Summerland, said the crack is at the interface of the old and new portions of the dam structure.
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The original dam was constructed in 1941. The expansion, which doubled the size of the reservoir lake west of Summerland, was opened in 2007. The cost of the expansion was just under $11 million.
While an engineer has already examined the crack, the recommendation was to hire a structural engineer to do a detailed analysis.
At present, the dam is not leaking water and the dam is fairly thick at the location of the crack, van der Meulen said.
The bid on the dam stability analysis and engineering will close in mid-June. The timeline for the examination work is not yet known, as the water level may have to be drawn down at the reservoir.
Thirsk Lake has a capacity of 6,474 million litres. The municipality of Summerland’s total water capacity is 14,303 million litres.
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