FirstLight to Extend Annual Turners Falls Power Canal Drawdown

In late August, FirstLight began a planned maintenance project on the Turners Falls Power Canal Left Dike to install a seepage management system to address Federal Energy Regulatory Commission dam safety requirements. In recent days, FirstLight’s project team and expert consultants identified the need to drawdown the Power Canal to safely perform the excavations necessary to complete the project and determined that an approximately three-week extension of the annual drawdown was the best approach.

Understanding that this drawdown extension coincides with a portion of the downstream fish migration season, FirstLight is actively consulting with the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to identify approaches to supporting effective fish passage during the drawdown to mitigate its impact.

The annual week-long drawdown of the Power Canal was scheduled to conclude on Saturday, September 28. With this three-week extension, it is projected that the Power Canal will remain dewatered until approximately October 20, 2024. FirstLight is committed to safely completing the work on the most aggressive possible timeline and will provide updates should the project schedule change.