Kent hosts dam maintenance webinar

KENT — Civil engineers from Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection joined the Kent Conservation Commission’s Zoom room on Feb. 6 with a key message for those with dams on their property: dam maintenance — and failure — is the owner’s responsibility.

DEEP engineer Lariab Afzaal, who gave a presentation on the organization’s process of dam risk assessment and monitoring, said “it is the dam owner’s responsibility to maintain their dams in a safe condition to prevent the loss of life or damage to property.” She added that dam owners are “financially responsible for damages caused by their dam failing.”

Conservation Commission member Wendy Murphy introduced the evening’s speakers with a call to increase the town’s vigilance on its waterway infrastructure as extreme precipitation events become more frequent with climate change.

“Between the increasing effects of climate change and alterations in land use patterns, we think it may be time to re-evaluate how we live in harmony with streams, ponds and dams,” Murphy said.

Over the course of the presentation, Afzaal outlined DEEP’s schema for classifying dams based on their downstream risk level, and what each classification entails for maintenance. She reported that Kent’s dams fall into either the “AA” (negligible hazard) or “BB” (moderate hazard) groups.

AA level dams are not regulated, but are still required to be registered with DEEP. BB level dams hold the potential for “moderate economic loss” downstream, including damage to roadways and unoccupied structures. BB level dams must be inspected every seven years.

When a dam is due for inspection, DEEP sends a notice to the owner, who is then responsible for hiring a professional engineer to conduct the inspection and make repairs. DEEP does not provide funding for the maintenance or removal of dams, Afzaal said, but the Dam Safety Regulatory Program can help guide owners toward several grant opportunities which may apply to their dam.

Following the presentation, Murphy expressed concern that many dam owners aren’t aware of their responsibility for dams on their property, or even if they own one at all.

Anna Laskin, another civil engineer with DEEP’s dam safety program, replied that “Property Disclosure Reports,” which acknowledge dam ownership, are required to be included in every real estate transaction even if realtors may not be aware of them.

Commission member Jean Speck asked if there are many dam owners who remain unaware of their presence, to which Laskin said it’s “very unlikely” due to DEEP’s outreach efforts.

At the Feb. 12 regular meeting of the Conservation Commission, members still disagreed as to Kent’s dam safety awareness. “I think a lot of [residents] just don’t know that they are responsible for keeping [their] dam in good shape,” said Commission advisor Jos Spelbos.

Commission member Connie Manes contended that stating that the dam maintenance and ownership process was either faulty or fully operational was just conjecture without evidence. Regardless of the effectiveness of the process, she said that she agreed with other commissioners that dam safety outreach and education for realtors and residents alike should be a priority.

Latest News

Angela Derrico Carabine

SHARON — Angela Derrick Carabine, 74, died May 16, 2025, at Vassar Hospital in Poughkeepsie, New York. She was the wife of Michael Carabine and mother of Caitlin Carabine McLean.

A funeral Mass will be celebrated on June 6 at 11:00 a.m. at Saint Katri (St Bernards Church) Church. Burial will follow at St. Bernards Cemetery. A complete obituary can be found on the website of the Kenny Funeral home kennyfuneralhomes.com.

Revisiting ‘The Killing Fields’ with Sam Waterston

Sam Waterston

Jennifer Almquist

On June 7 at 3 p.m., the Triplex Cinema in Great Barrington will host a benefit screening of “The Killing Fields,” Roland Joffé’s 1984 drama about the Khmer Rouge and the two journalists, Cambodian Dith Pran and New York Times correspondent Sydney Schanberg, whose story carried the weight of a nation’s tragedy.

The film, which earned three Academy Awards and seven nominations — including one for Best Actor for Sam Waterston — will be followed by a rare conversation between Waterston and his longtime collaborator and acclaimed television and theater director Matthew Penn.

Keep ReadingShow less
The art of place: maps by Scott Reinhard

Scott Reinhard, graphic designer, cartographer, former Graphics Editor at the New York Times, took time out from setting up his show “Here, Here, Here, Here- Maps as Art” to explain his process of working.Here he explains one of the “Heres”, the Hunt Library’s location on earth (the orange dot below his hand).

obin Roraback

Map lovers know that as well as providing the vital functions of location and guidance, maps can also be works of art.With an exhibition titled “Here, Here, Here, Here — Maps as Art,” Scott Reinhard, graphic designer and cartographer, shows this to be true. The exhibition opens on June 7 at the David M. Hunt Library at 63 Main St., Falls Village, and will be the first solo exhibition for Reinhard.

Reinhard explained how he came to be a mapmaker. “Mapping as a part of my career was somewhat unexpected.I took an introduction to geographic information systems (GIS), the technological side of mapmaking, when I was in graduate school for graphic design at North Carolina State.GIS opened up a whole new world, new tools, and data as a medium to play with.”

Keep ReadingShow less