1. A request for proposal to conduct our annual state required inspections of the dam and Sediment Drying Facility this fall has been sent to the MPOA engineers. 

2. An engineering plan for renovating the protection of the control shafts operating the sluice gates at the Wonder Lake spillway has been received. The next step is to receive a proposal from the MPOA marine contractor to first remove the existing failed protection, and to then install the new shaft protection. 

3. Aging Midwest dams in the news: 

Rapidan Dam in southern Minnesota experiences partial failure; no plans for mass evacuation 

RAPIDAN TOWNSHIP, Minn.  June 26, 2024 — Flooding on the Blue Earth River caused an abutment of the 114- year- old Rapidan Dam to partially fail on Monday morning, and it remains in "imminent failure condition." On Tuesday morning, Blue Earth County Public Works Director Ryan Thilges said the breach threat has diminished, though officials are still concerned because the dam was built on sandstone bedrock that can further erode. Thilges says the dam itself was not breached. Instead, he described it as a "partial failure of the west abutment." The structure is intact but water continues to flow around it, eroding the slope and forcing an evacuation of the family home of the owners of the Rapidan Dam Store. Late Tuesday night, most of the iconic home collapsed into the river. 

https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/rapidan-dam-fails-evacuation-blu…;

Record rains wash out Manawa's signature event, causes breach of community's 104-year-old mill pond dam 

MANAWA, Wis. – Saturday, July 6 was set to be the biggest day of the year for this city of 1,400 people in the central part of Waupaca County – a day for which community residents and area volunteers had been preparing for most of the past year. It was scheduled to be the wrap-up of the 66th annual Mid-Western Rodeo weekend, with thousands of people expected to attend the morning parade through the downtown area of the city of Manawa, and the afternoon and evening performances of the rodeo. However, all those plans and preparations were washed away by torrential rains that hit the community the previous day. A slow-moving low-pressure system stalled out over Waupaca County, dropping several inches of rain on many communities, but Manawa bore the brunt of it.  According to the National Weather Service in Green Bay, Manawa was pounded by a record of 5.69 inches of rain on July 5 between 8:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., stranding motorists on city streets, flooding the basements of up to 100 homes and washing out portions of other local roads.  

https://www.wisfarmer.com/story/news/2024/07/09/waupaca-county-dam-brea…