BY JOHN REED LEADER EDITOR
KOONTZ LAKE — The dam on the west end of Koontz Lake is leaking, and engineers are monitoring the location daily to prevent any major problems.
Starke County Emergency Management Director Randy Abbey told county commissioners Monday that an Emergency Action Plan is being prepared.
“It looked fine in December. Now, it’s leaking five gallons a minute,” Abbey said
The Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) discovered the leak on May 16. Abbey said earthen dams typically seep, but five gallons a minute is more than seeping.
Abbey said the potential threat is not large. Only two houses lie downstream from the leak. The dam leads to a ditch, which goes into the Robbins ditch and then the Kankakee River.
A large breach would cause flooding over adjacent farmland.
The engineering firm of Lawson-Fisher has been hired to devise repair plans. The dam is at Ind. 23 just north of where the road curves at South Avenue.
There would be no threat to homes around the lake, although a large breach would cause lake levels to drop.