Volume 5, Number 3 • Winter 2003/2004
Virginia River Flows Freely After 151 Years – Embrey Dam Breaching
Explosives set by the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force Reserves were used to blast a 100-foot section in the middle of Embrey Dam, allowing the Rappahannock River to flow freely for the first time in more than 150 years. The detonation on February 23, 2004 was just the "beginning of the end" for the Embrey Dam. It marked the first step in a plan by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to completely remove the dam. |
The dam breach will immediately allow fish migration. However, canoeists and kayakers will have to wait to traverse that part of the river until the area has been cleared of enough debris to allow safe, free passage. The Corps of Engineers estimates that the dam will be completely dismantled in 2006.
"I have looked forward to this moment for some time, and am proud to play a small part in this historic event," said Sen. Warner (R - VA). "As a result of today’s event, fish will be able to swim unhindered from the Chesapeake to the Blue Ridge, and generations that follow us will be better able to enjoy all that the Rappahannock has to offer."
The 22-foot-high, 770- foot Embrey Dam was last used for hydroelectric power generation in the 1960s and the City of Fredericksburg, VA last used water diverted by the dam into the Rappahannock Canal as a raw water source for the City’s water since early 2000. Because of the lack of usefulness, federal, state and local officials have worked with environmental and conservation groups to remove the dam, and reopen the Rappahannock River.
Removing the dam will allow migrating fish, most significantly the American shad, to return to their historic spawning waters upriver for the first time since 1853