City of Lawton receiving grant funds for Ellsworth dam project

OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma Water Resources Board has approved $11 million in grants for improvements to Lawton’s Lake Ellsworth dam.

Tuesday’s designation to the Lawton Water Authority (a function of the City Council) specifies the funding for construction of upgrades and improvements to the dam will be financed by $10 million from the Oklahoma American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Designated grant program and $1 million from the Oklahoma ARPA Dam Rehabilitation grant program. In addition, the project will receive $925,251 from a Rehabilitation of High Hazard Potential Dam grant and $14,275,345 in local matching funds.

The Oklahoma Water Resources Board said the funding will be used to add more robust rock anchors and drains under the dam’s apron, and to cast a new reinforced concrete slab over the existing apron. Other projects include repair of the existing concrete on the spillway and ogee, retrofit of the spillway retaining walls, an addition of chute blocks on the spillway stilling basin, riprap along the east side of the spillway, and changes to the grade at the southeast corner of the spillway.

City officials said in December they had begun putting funding into place to address damage caused to Ellsworth’s spillway by heavy rains in 2015. While the initial project focused on damaged concrete panels in the spillway, additional analysis found other problems, including voids under the spillway. The result took what was initially envisioned as a $2 million project to more than $24 million, under latest estimates.

Public Utilities Director Rusty Whisenhunt has said design plans are complete, meaning Lawton can move forward with the project when funding is secured.

Joe Freeman, chief of the OWRB’s financial assistance division, estimated the Authority’s customers will save $16,831,700, compared to traditional financing.

The ARPA grant program is administered by the water resources board with funding from the U.S. Department of the Treasury and appropriated through Oklahoma Senate bills for the Water and Wastewater ARPA grants program.