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Does anyone know if the Warrenville Dam has been approved for removal?

 

If so, when? And does anyone know what the benefits will be?

 

It seems to me many fish gather below dams because of the oxygen they create and deep holes they cut out. I think if the dam is removed, the hole below the dam will get filled in with rubble and the fish will move on to deeper holes elsewhere. This will definately make it harder to find the fish after they relocate.

 

I'm wondering what other people think.

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Jim-

In December 1999, American Rivers released a report "Dam Removal Success Stories: Restoring Rivers Through Selective Removal of Dams that Don't Make Sense".

This report provides a list of 467 dams that have been removed, as well as in-depth case studies of 26 of these dam removals.

 

Read the full Dam Removal Success Stories Report HERE

 

From the Warrenville website:

Preliminarly Creek Cleanup Work

by Administration Department

 

Kerr-McGee (now Tronox) will begin conducting soil borings for design purposes along both banks of the West Branch just upstream of the Warrenville Grove Dam. Some tree clearing will be necessary on both banks to get access for the drill rig. The property owners affected will be notified and information posted on Channel 10.

 

Various restoration and enhancement projects are being proposed by DuPage County in conjunction with the Tronox thorium remediation project on the West Branch of the DuPage River. Some of the proposed enhancements include:

 

* Micro-Habitat restoration

* Wetland and floodplain restoration

* Restoration and enhancement of river corridor west of the dam

* Restoration of native wetland plantings

* Pedestrian paths

* Partial dam removal

* Safe kayak and canoe passage

* Research hatchery/educational facility

 

This project is made possible by a $10 million National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) grant.

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True, if the dam was removed that area below the dam may no longer be the same as it was before. Just because the dam may be removed, that is not to say that deeper holes will be filled in afterward. It is the intention of the forest preserve district to increase suitable habitat not reduce it. If a good hole is present there now, I believe they will do their best to keep it.

It is also true that the area above the dam will be changed too. There will no longer be silt covering the bottom, there will be oxygen for the fish to breathe, and smallies and other fish will be able to move upstream. Removing the dam may even open up a few holes that were not there before. There will be more habitat suitable to smallmouth. The more habitat available, the more fish the river can sustain.

Even if one small spot were changed, the improvement of a much larger area of river will more than make up for it.

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Guest rich mc

the warrenville dam is planned tio be crushed, creating rubble. after the upastream clean up is done. then the mcdowell dam is planned for removal except for one of the side s asit is home to a colony of watersnakes.all the projects are a few years down the line. we will be having don labrose speak to our club this spring about the plans rich

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the warrenville dam is planned tio be crushed, creating rubble. after the upastream clean up is done. then the mcdowell dam is planned for removal except for one of the side s asit is home to a colony of watersnakes.all the projects are a few years down the line. we will be having don labrose speak to our club this spring about the plans rich

 

Thanks for the info...I may be ignorant in this manner...what were the purposes of the McDowell, and Warrenville dams? What function did they have? They were placed there long before I was even around.

 

Irrigation??? Holding back the water to fill smaller cut troughs for cattle and fields? Or did they divert the water to make another waterway navigable for boats?

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