Gate repaired at Mill Creek dam

TALMAGE — With the turn of a valve Friday, water began refilling a popular Ukiah-area swimming hole that has remained drained for more than three years.

Mendocino County Supervisors Mike Delbar and Jim Wattenburger took turns cranking the wheel of the valve, slowing closing a newly repaired gate at the base of the Mill Creek reservoir’s dam.

“It’s a good day,” said Delbar, who, along with Wattenburger, had threatened to chain himself to the dam if that’s what it took to restore the reservoir.

The National Marine Fisheries Service had recommended that the dam and two smaller ones below it be removed to increase fish habitat after the dam’s gate broke, triggering an environmental impact report.

But county officials were determined to keep the reservoirs, which for decades have served as cool relief in summer for area residents.

It cost almost $900,000, including $450,000 in studies and an environmental report, to repair the dam’s valve.

The gate had broken in the open position in late 2004 during a state inspection, draining the top reservoir and sending an estimated 40,000 cubic feet of silt downstream.