DANVILLE (WSLS10) - Danville city council members now have more information to consider as they try to decide what to with the White Mill Dam along the Dan River.
A public meeting was held at the Danville YMCA this evening to give residents an opportunity to ask questions about the White Mill Dam and offer their opinions about what should be done with it.
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During the meeting, the city's engineer, Brian Dunevant, provided an informational presentation on low head dams and answered questions from residents..
The city's public works department has recommended removing the dam, but the city is also considering making safety modifications as a possible alternative in preparation for the future Riverfront Park, which will be built nearby.
The fear is that the park will attract a lot of people, especially children, to the area and a child could easily fall into the river and get sucked into the dam and drown.
"By removing the dam," Dunevant explained, "we remove the risk and the liability associated with the dam."
"Modification to the dam is an option that was brought up, but modification is extremely expensive and probably not realistic for this dam," continued Dunevant.
Faith Hiler, though, hopes the safety modifications can be made so that the dam can stay.
"[For] the beauty of the river, we need the dam there," Hiler said. "It breaks up the water. It's just what we need. I'm sure it's going to flood; it's going to go to the side. Without the dam, it's going to flood even more down river."
The plan is to give the comments from the meeting to city council to discuss and ultimately use to make a final decision about the dam.
There is no word yet though when city council may make that final decision.
In 2012, a low head dam was removed from the river. Dunevant said the removal took two to four weeks and cost less than $30,000.