UNION CITY, MI (WTVB) – Union City Village Manager Chris Mathis says work is progressing very quickly at Riley Dam.
The Village received a $1 million loan from U.S.D.A. Rural Development which is being used to make repairs to the dam.
Mathis said in a post on the village’s Facebook page that crews have completely installed a toe drain that runs the entire length of the earthen embankment and that the work was completed well ahead of schedule.
This involved finding the 95 year old tile drainage system that ran beneath the embankment and tying those drains into the new drain.
The old drains were no longer functioning properly. Over years the ditch became overgrown and was then non-existent and no longer drained with water just pooling at the base and becoming a swamp.
The old drains now tie into the new toe drain and drain out to the river. Mathis says keeping that drained, along with other improvements, will aid in stabilizing the new embankment.
Work will now focus on the rebuilding and shaping the earthen embankment on the down stream side of the embankment. The scheduled completion date for the entire project is November 28, 2018.
