The Illinois Department of Natural Resources has outlined its plan for the removal of the Batavia North dam. The US state intends to move forward with the dam’s removal by September next year and the bulk of the project could take a minimum of two years, costing as much as US$10M.
The concrete dam is to be cut down to 0.6m and modified by a 15.2m wide notch in the centre of the structure to allow canoe and fish passage as well as to create a riffle. Riffles help to secure sediment while improving water quality and fish and boat passage.
Four other riffles would be placed across the river upstream of the current dam. The state would plant vegetation on two new islands and on banks exposed from the narrowed river. The water’s width would drop as little as 3m and as much as 152.4m with the depth remaining about the same.