Mount Morris Dam is the largest dam of its type east of the Mississippi, located on the Genesee River near the Village of Mount Morris in Livingston County, New York. It is different because water only builds behind the dam during high water events. Each summer, when the water is low, a team moves in with heavy equipment and removes the sediment and floatable materials that have accumulated behind the dam and what's called the debris boom.
The sediment that is removed from in front of the conduit openings will be placed upstream of the dam back into the flood plain. Tires and other man-made debris will be removed from the floatable material and recycled. Then the contractor will use a wood chipper to grind the trees branches and other organic material before they are hauled out of the valley and recycled.
In April of 2015 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District awarded a five year $1.7 million contract to Strock Enterprises, Ltd. of Cheektowaga, New York, for the removal of floatable material and sediment from the upstream side of the dam.
Of that $1.7 million dollar contract, this year $340,000 will be used to remove approximately 3,500 cubic yards of floatable material and approximately 12,000 cubic yards of sediment from upstream side of the dam.
Congress authorized the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build Mount Morris Dam in the Flood Control Act of 1944 at a cost of $24 million to prevent damage to the city of Rochester, New York, and areas south, during severe flood events.
Removing the debris ensures that during high water events Mount Morris Dam will be able to function as designed. Since it was built the dam has prevented over $2 billion worth of flood damages between Mount Morris and Rochester, a distance of 67 river miles.
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