Wyrick Joshua R, Rischman Brian A, Burke Christopher A, McGee Craig, Williams Chasity
Rowan University, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Glassboro, NJ 08028, USA.
J Environ Manage. 2009 Jul;90 Suppl 3:S270-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2008.07.027. Epub 2008 Nov 12.
Small relic mill dams are common in the watersheds of southern New Jersey, dotting the landscape with many small neighborhood lakes. Originally built in the late 1800s, most of these dams have become increasingly unable to handle current design storms due to increased urbanization of the watersheds. Several of these dams have also been classified as "high hazard" by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Dam Safety Division because their failure has the potential for loss of life or extensive property damage. The current private owners are generally unable to afford the high repair costs needed to rehabilitate the dams to current safety standards, and are therefore more inclined to remove them. This research analyses both the physical and social impacts of the removal of two small dams in southern New Jersey, and integrates the two seemingly disparate concepts. Using hydraulic modeling and previous case studies, it is predicted that there will be limited effects to the hydrological and biological characteristics of the stream corridor. A survey distributed to the affected homeowners that live on these lakes shows that the community, however, expects significant impacts to the bio-physical characteristics of the stream corridor, as well financial impacts to their property value and social impacts to their recreational activities. The current study exposes the widening gap between policy makers and landowners, and highlights where complete stakeholder interaction could and should occur.
小型遗迹磨坊水坝在新泽西州南部的流域很常见，众多小型社区湖泊点缀着这片土地。这些水坝大多建于19世纪后期，由于流域城市化程度的提高，它们越来越无法应对当前设计标准下的暴雨。新泽西州环境保护部大坝安全司将其中几座水坝列为“高危”水坝，因为它们一旦决堤，可能会导致人员伤亡或严重的财产损失。目前的私人业主通常无力承担将水坝修复至当前安全标准所需的高昂费用，因此更倾向于拆除水坝。本研究分析了新泽西州南部两座小型水坝拆除带来的物理和社会影响，并将这两个看似不同的概念结合起来。通过水力建模和以往的案例研究预测，溪流廊道的水文和生物特征受到的影响将较为有限。然而，一项针对居住在这些湖泊周边受影响房主的调查显示，社区预计溪流廊道的生物物理特征会受到重大影响，其房产价值也会受到经济影响，娱乐活动会受到社会影响。当前的研究揭示了政策制定者与土地所有者之间日益扩大的差距，并突出了完全的利益相关者互动可以且应该发生的领域。
