Lake Alma Dam Rehabilitation

Lake Alma Dam is a Class I high hazard dam located in Lake Alma State Park in Vinton County, Ohio. Initially built in 1902, the dam functions as both a recreational reservoir for the State of Ohio and a secondary drinking water source for the City of Wellston. The park is nestled inside the heart of the unglaciated hill country of Jackson and Vinton Counties and serves a friendly community park with walking trails and scenic views. The dam is critical to the park as it impounds a tributary to Little Racoon Creek, carries state route 349 over the crest of the dam, and supports a pedestrian bridge that allows visitors to gain access to the parks island.

Currently, the dam fails to meet dam safety regulations due to multiple deficiencies.  These include the inability of the existing 30-inch HDPE pipe conduit spillway to pass the probable maximum flood event without overtopping the dam embankment, along with deficiencies with the embankment and conduit spillway pipe. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources identified Lake Alma as a high priority structure to be rehabilitated.  The proposed design will include a spillway, embankment, and lake drain improvements and will address all critical deficiencies to ensure full compliance with dam safety regulations. Rehabilitation alternatives considered during Preliminary Design included the following:

• Replacement spillway with increased discharge capacity
• Replacement spillway and floodwall to increase storage capacity
• RCC embankment overtopping protection system with  replacement spillway