North sluice gate at RT Orr Dam working as designed, says UTRCA

Some questions have been raised, as Lake Victoria still appears more like a mud pit than a lake in some areas due to low rainfall since the RT Orr Dam became lodged with debris and drained over the course of multiple days.

Some locals are taking to Facebook to discuss the ongoing concerns with the dam and the cause of the blockage; however, the recent draining of Lake Victoria was not caused by a broken gate, according to the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA).

The north sluice gate – the one used during the July 24 rainstorm – functioned as designed, officials said. The problem occurred when debris became lodged beneath the gate, preventing it from closing completely and allowing water to continue draining from the lake.

“This incident did not cause damage to the gate,” the UTRCA confirmed in an email. “The north sluice gate was already scheduled for refurbishment and maintenance.”

According to UTRCA, the two gates were operating appropriately, and the debris was an unfortunate incident that could not have been prevented regardless of which gate was used.

The dam has two sluice gates – north and south – which can be used to release or control water flow. At this time, the north gate is awaiting refurbishment, while the south gate is currently in use.

UTRCA officials stated that the refurbishment of the north gate is unrelated to the debris issue, and the south gate was functioning correctly at the time of the debris issue.

UTRCA is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the RT Orr Dam. The City of Stratford pays the authority a levy that covers dam operations, maintenance, and capital projects. The UTRCA also contracts some of the dam monitoring and operations to the city.

Work is ongoing to refill Lake Victoria, with staff continuing to monitor water flow and aquatic health downstream.

“We’re continuing to review the circumstances and the variables that impacted the operations, including the gates,” the UTRCA said. “We will be discussing the event with City of Stratford staff and identifying areas for improvement.”

On Aug. 11, the draining was discussed at city council. When asked by Coun. Geza Wordofa about the crisis at Stratford’s waterfront, Mayor Martin Ritsma confirmed that discussions are being had between the two organizations.

“I've also asked Upper Thames (River) Conservation Authority, who are the authorities of that particular dam and the weir as well, that they are going to come back and report to council about the situation,” Ritsma said. “How it occurred, and then what they are looking to with regards to mitigating the chance of that happening again.”

“There will be a debrief on this,” Adam Betteridge, interim chief administrative officer with the city, added. “There will be lessons learned, there will be comments about how we can work with the UTRCA to prevent this unfortunate circumstance from happening again. … There'll be some public information within the next day or two on this about what has been done.”

When pressed about whether or not staff or an organization will take responsibility for the draining, Betteridge said that he won’t “accept that staff need to take any responsibility for this.”

“We know how the infrastructure works. We know why the dams have been put in place. We know the functions. Council of the day elected what type and what type of maintenance was put into the infrastructure that controls the flood control through the (Avon) River into Lake Victoria, so I don't believe, with the utmost respect, that one staff person or someone needs to take responsibility for something failed … No one decided for that gate not to work that evening. It was a fluke.”