MVSD engineer says dam cracks not serious; Niles officials point to injection well

NILES

The outgoing Mahoning Valley Sanitary District chief engineer says cracks detected in the Meander Reservoir dam do not appear to be serious, based on a consultant’s report.

“There are no serious cracks in the dam … and there is nothing alarming in the report,” Thomas Holloway told city council during a roundtable meeting today.

MVSD provides water from the Meander Reservoir to Niles, Youngstown and McDonald. Reconstruction of the reservoir dam, which was built in 1932, is expected to cost the district $28 million.

Niles council members, however, appeared to be more concerned with the court-ordered reopening of an injection well in Weathersfield Township.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources concluded the well was responsible for setting off several earthquakes in 2014. Several council members said they think the quakes may have caused cracks in the dam and in some of MVSD’s 15 buildings.

The quakes ceased after the state ordered the well shut down, but earlier this month, a judge in Franklin County ruled the well could resume operations.

District officials, including Holloway, who has resigned from the chief engineer position effective Jan. 22, have been reluctant to point fingers at the well and the earthquakes for causing the cracks.

They point out a number of the buildings were constructed in the 1930s and 1940s, so other causes for the cracks, such as land that is settling, is possible.

Read more about the meeting in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.