Lake Manatee Dam receives $3 million dollars for emergency repairs

MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. — Manatee County officials recently approved $3 million in funding for emergency repairs to the Lake Manatee Dam.

Information gained after last year’s hurricane season has led to a multi-million dollar restoration project at the dam. After significant rainfall forced officials to release water, flooding followed — prompting a special assessment.

“Due to the, you know, extensive hurricane season we had last year, one of the recommendations was to do what’s called a ground-penetrating radar assessment of the dam face. So as a result of that, they identified areas where there are potential voids within the dam face,” said Patrick Shea, the utilities director for Manatee County.

He said those voids are gaps within the dam, and that the assessment found dozens of them.

“Voids can happen when the water gets through cracks in the dam and starts to wash away some of that cemented soil. So the voids are just kind of gaps within the structure itself,” he said.

Shea noted that the voids have developed over time in the decades-old dam.

“Voids are created over time — wave action from the lake, the lapping of the water, and just overall degradation of the dam over the years. The dam is 61 years old,” he added.

Now, $3 million will be spent to repair the side of the dam that faces the water.

“When they’re finding these small voids, they’ll go in and inject a two-part epoxy into the dam. It’s really a preventative measure to avoid an emergency situation at the dam,” he said.

Officials say the work will be completed within the next 30 days.

The Lake Manatee Dam receives an annual professional engineer’s report on its condition.