Summary of the Canal Corp Meeting:

On Tuesday, July 23, representatives and engineers from the NY State Canal Corporation presented their plan for the repair of the Madison Reservoir (Lake Moraine) dam. Love Auditorium at Colgate University was full and, judging from a show of hands, most in the audience were residents of Lake Moraine. As the engineers explained, plans for the repair are in the early design stage of a rehabilitation project to ensure the safety and longevity of the dam. They promised that the end result would be a "state of the art reservoir" ensuring both public safety and public benefit.

 

In the meeting, the Canal Corp staff provided a history of the Chenango canal and its dams, and an illustrated rendition of the aspects of the dam that will be rebuilt. The Canal Corporation projects a multi-year drawdown to allow this work to be completed safely. Although, as they stated, the planning is still in the early stages, Lake Moraine will likely be drawn down at least ten feet for all of 2026 and 2027.

 

The audience asked many questions after the presentation.

 

Here is a link to the Canal Corp site regarding the Lake Moraine project: https://www.canals.ny.gov/Operations-and-Public-Projects/Project-Work/Madison-Reservoir-Dam-Rehab

 

The FAQs on that page provide useful information in addition to illustrations of the project.

 

A link to the video of the meeting should be posted on the same website in the future.

 

There should be additional meetings and updates before the project begins.

 

Jackie Schillinger from Canal Corp is our contact person and welcomes questions via Jacqueline.schillinger@canals.ny.gov or 518-281-5510.