By JOSEPH FITZGERALD

BURRILLVILLE — With its flowing waterfall and village green, the centuries-old Mill Pond dam on East Avenue is considered the gateway to Harrisville and one of the more picturesque spots in town.
But if you were to take a closer look at the aging earthen dam you’d find sluice gates in disrepair, missing concrete blocks and a rotted wooden spillway.

It’s one of two dams in town classified by the Department of Environmental Management as “high hazard,” meaning it is in imminent danger of failing in a heavy storm.
Town Council President Nancy F. Binns remembers almost seeing that scenario unfold at the Mill Pond dam in October 2005 when remnants of Tropical Storm Tammy and a subtropical depression merged with incoming continental cold fronts to produce torrential rains over Rhode Island and the rest of New England. Rainfall from the 100-year-storm totaled well over 20 inches in some areas.
“During that storm we had to do some extensive sandbagging at the dam and there was some real concern for homeowners in that area,” Binns said. “The DEM has said that this is a disaster waiting to happen.”
Facing the waterfall, the dam actually extends around the right side of the pond so that the backyards of houses on the left side of Steere Street are facing and — in some cases — sitting on the banks of the earthen dam.
The banks on that side have seen serious erosion over the years due to tree roots and pedestrian traffic.
After two years of study and design, the town is ready to take action in June when it begins a months-long project to repair the dam in three stages.
Design plans for the project have been submitted to the state, and the Town Council tonight is slated to award a $640,000 contract to construction firm J.H. Lynch & Sons to head the project.
The first phase of the project would entail replacing the three or four sluice gates on the side of the dam adjacent to the Assembly Theatre with two new operating sluice gates. A sluice gate is traditionally a wooden or metal plate which slides in grooves in the sides of the channel. Sluice gates are commonly used to control water levels and flow rates in rivers and canals.
The project’s second phase will replace missing granite blocks and to buttress the back of the dam with riprap and concrete. The third phase will see the aging spillway replaced with a concrete spillway and leveling of the banks on either side of the dam and the addition of riprap along the banks to stop erosion. Trees will be cleared from the area and a fence erected.
Both East Avenue and Steere Road are expected to remain open during the project, which is likely to continue into September. The annual Burrillville Arts Festival, which is usually held on the Assembly grounds near the dam, may have to be relocated to another venue pending the progress of the project.
A dam is classified by the DEM as “high hazard” when failure or misoperation will result in a probable loss of life. A dam is classified as “significant hazard” when failure or misoperation will most likely not result in loss of life, but could cause major economic loss or disrupt and impact the public’s health, safety, and welfare.
Burrillville’s second high hazard dam is located on Echo Lake.