Following a surge of complaints about low water levels over the summer, engineers inspected the dam linking Pennesseewassee Lake and Pennesseewassee Stream in Norway, Maine, to determine whether water was leaking and contributing to the decline.
The Maine Monitor of Hallowell, Maine, reported Nov. 23, 2025, that engineers could find no significant water loss. Still, the unusually low water level revealed a faulty spillway and other serious structural vulnerabilities that could lead to a catastrophic dam failure during high-water events.
In an ironic twist, the damage might have gone undetected had water levels stayed high. Norway officials have moved quickly to initiate repairs and reduce the risk of dam failure before the spring runoff next year.
Over a three-week period in October, Bancroft Construction Corp. of South Paris, Maine, repaired leaking timber boards, concrete beams and other structural elements of the dam, which was built in 1935 at an approximate cost of $91,000.
The final cost of the 2025 repairs to the dam has not been announced.
"The repairs will ensure that the gates will not fail during highwater," interim Norway Town Manager Jeffery Campbell wrote in an email to Maine Monitor.
The bad news, however, is the fixes are not expected to significantly improve current conditions for residents and recreational boaters on Norway Lake, who endured extremely low water levels throughout last summer.
"The town was receiving a lot of calls from concerned citizens saying, ‘Oh, we see the water is really low, and we see leaking in the dam,'" Sarah Carter-Hill, vice chair of the Norway select board, told the independent and nonprofit news source.
She added that engineers who inspected the Pennesseewassee Lake's dam determined that leakage was not the cause of the lake's low water levels.
"There has always been flow-by of some water through the dam, even when it is completely closed," Campbell noted in his email. "The significant reduction of the lake level was due to the extreme lack of rain this past summer."
The low water levels allowed engineers to clearly identify the dam's faulty spillway and made potential failure points easier to access and repair.
The repairs were completed in two phases with the boards visible above the waterline fixed first, followed by work on the underwater dam house boards, which were sealed using advanced techniques, according to minutes from the Norway Select Board's Oct. 16 meeting Oct. 16.
Campbell said at least one of the dam's boards was damaged to the point that it would likely not have withstood high water during the spring melt.
"This failure would have resulted in increased flow of water over the dam, but the main concrete structure of the dam is in good condition, and there was no risk of flood or mass water loss of the lake," he said.
Low Water Levels Helped to Complete Needed Repairs
Carter-Hill told Maine Monitor that an increase in calls from concerned residents about low water levels prompted a thorough inspection of the dam and revealed its failure points, which led to the recent repairs.
Norway officials were aware the dam needed repairs and had addressed its issues over the years, but Carter-Hill said she believes the complaints accelerated this particular project.
"It already had been in the works, and there was money being put into it," she said, "because these were issues we knew we needed to fix anyway."
Drought conditions and low water levels may have frustrated property owners around the lake, but Carter-Hill said they created ideal conditions for completing the repairs. Typically, construction crews must install a temporary cofferdam to hold back water during such work.
With already low water in the lake, little effort was needed to reduce its levels even further to allow for crews to safely work at the site.
"It made for perfect timing to do the repairs," she said. "These repairs are something we've definitely been talking about the last few years."
In his email, Campbell wrote that the town also is taking other steps, such as using bark mulch, to reduce leakage during dry months.
The Pennesseewassee Lake's water level is governed by a consent agreement between the Norway Lakes Association of Norway and the town.
Sal Girifalco, president of the Lakes Association of Norway, said maintaining target water levels is a tricky balancing act.
"It's a very challenging operation to keep the water levels right," he said. "If they guess wrong and there's too much water, some areas flood. If they guess wrong and there's not enough, and it doesn't rain, then the lake stays low. So, it's a real challenge to manage the lake levels appropriately.
"There's always questions about the … water being too low in the summer," he added. "So, it's a perpetual topic. My strongest wish is that it is not a perpetual topic."
