Water to be down from St. Joe dam, St. Marys River at Taylor Street to Maumee River dam to allow better access for work

The tainter gate on the Hosey Dam was replaced in 2006. It will be lifted Monday, Aug. 18 to lower river levels to make it easier for the City and County to perform work, maintenance.

The City of Fort Wayne will raise a gate on the Maumee River'€™s Hosey Dam Monday, Aug. 18, to lower river levels to accommodate repairs and work on the Maumee, St. Joseph and St. Marys rivers.

The tainter gate, replaced in 2006, will go up Monday morning, and river levels will recede over the next two days. The gate controls water from the St. Joe Dam and the St. Marys River at the Taylor Street bridge to the Maumee River just west of the North Anthony Bridge.

The gate will close again Aug. 27, weather permitting, in time for the Labor Day holiday weekend.

“It'€™s important that the City notifies the public of this temporary adjustment in river levels as we recognize balancing the needs of recreational waterway users and the needs of City Utilities and the County Highway Department to perform necessary work while the river levels are lower,” said Mayor Tom Henry. “This action is needed to allow for timely work on future projects yet allows multiple agencies to do work during a single river adjustment.”

The lower river levels will let City Utilities explore the sanitary sewer system behind Don Hall'€™s Gashouse in preparation for this fall'€™s construction. City Utilities will also take a core drilling of a wall near the water filtration plant'€™s raw water intake valve on the St. Joseph River. The County Highway Department plans to remove debris that has collected around bridges over the three local rivers.

The City has also notified interested parties about the planned gate opening as specified in a Board of Works resolution adopted in September 2007. It requires the City to notify those who have expressed interest to any City adjustment of river levels during the recreational period of April 15 to Oct. 15.

To be added to the public notification list of tainter gate adjustments, contact City Utilities Engineering Support Services at (260) 427-5065.