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PANGUITCH — Reservoir levels at Panguitch Lake have already dropped about 6 inches and efforts to mitigate a possible breach at the top of the section of the dam have been "effective" to this point, state officials said Thursday.
Utah Department of Public Safety, Garfield County and Panguitch city officials said they remain "encouraged" by the progress in an update that was provided Thursday afternoon after state engineers determined on Wednesday that only the top 2 to 5 feet of the dam are at risk of a possible breach.
Crews remained at the scene Thursday to place some additional supporting materials on the back of the "expansion section," while an excavator was used to remove "large chunks of ice" that had been pushing against that section of the dam, state officials said.
"These efforts have helped relieve pressure on the expansion section, allowing the concrete section to rebound from an 8-degree tilt to just over a 1-degree (tilt)," public safety officials wrote in the update. "This has greatly improved the dam's stability until permanent modifications can be made."
The Utah Division of Water Rights — the agency that oversees dam safety in the state — announced on Wednesday it had increased controlled releases into Panguitch Creek to about 258 cubic feet of water per second to lower the reservoir level to below the cracked section while avoiding issues with downstream flooding. It's about five times the amount of water that Salt Lake City is releasing from Little Dell Reservoir to avoid flooding risks in Utah's capital city.
While the reservoir has dropped about 6 inches in two days, public safety officials said they expect that it will take at least another week to lower the reservoir to below the damaged area. The National Weather Service's flash flood watch remains in place for the region while the risk of a partial dam failure exists.
The agency notes that Panguitch Creek "is running high, fast, and cold" because of the extra releases from the reservoir. The alert states that people should keep children and pets away from the creek since it is flowing faster than normal.
And while crews are optimistic about the dam, public safety officials said Panguitch residents should still be "alert and ready" in case the situation changes. The city is offering sandbags to residents who want them.
A 17-mile section of state Route 143 is still closed from Panguitch to Panguitch Lake as a precaution.
Officials said there have been "minor washouts" since the controlled releases began, but no infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed. They added that the highway will be reevaluated on Friday to see if it is safe to reopen to regular traffic.
The highway was closed Monday night, shortly after West Panguitch Irrigation Company employees discovered transverse cracking on a section of the dam that is believed to have been completed in the 1930s or 1940s.
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources also closed the reservoir to fishing to prevent people from visiting the site while crews work to repair the dam.
