ANR: contractor working on Morrisville Green River dam evaluation; report expected late 2025

The Agency of Natural Resources told the House Appropriations Committee on Jan. 17 that it has a contractor conducting an engineering evaluation of the dam and dike at the Green River reservoir operated by Morrisville Water & Light.

"We have a contractor on board and doing an engineering evaluation," Secretary Julie Moore said, adding that work has taken longer than expected because ANR’s small dam safety team spent time responding to flood events and because some previously shared engineering materials did not contain all the expected information. Moore said she amended the contract to cover the additional work and that Morrisville Water & Light agreed to split the cost of the amendment.

Moore said the consultants are now ‘‘chugging away’’ on the study and that she expects the work to finish later in the year, possibly near the end of calendar 2025. She reminded the committee that ANR owns about 80 dams, including major facilities at Wrightsville, East Ferris and Waterbury, and said staffing shortfalls in the dam safety team contributed to schedule delays.

Committee members asked for a status update; ANR officials said they would provide further details as the consultant completes its report. No formal committee action related to the Green River evaluation was recorded during the Jan. 17 hearing.