Carpentersville Dam

Description

View progress on the Dam removal, here:

Time-Lapse Video (final)    Initial Notching Video     YouTube Playlist

Note: Time-lapse videos have been uploaded through 11/13/2024 (when the dam was fully out of the Fox River). You may click the three dots once you've opened a video, and slow down the video speed. The Initial Notching Video links to our YouTube Channel and shows the initial notching of the dam, shot by District staff on 9/20/2024. The YouTube Playlist button above links to a series of Carpentersville Dam Removal videos.

Press Release: Carpentersville Dam Removal Gets Final Approvals - July 31, 2024

The Carpentersville Dam is located on the Fox River in southern portion of the Fox River Shores Forest Preserve just upstream of Main Street in the Village of Carpentersville. This low head “run of the river dam” is broad-crested with a sloping face that is approximately 9 feet high and 380 feet wide. The dam was reportedly constructed in the 1830s but it has obviously been rebuilt since then (potentially multiple times) and is currently a deteriorating concrete structure. The dam has an abandoned and non-functional millrace on the west bank near the existing parking area, restrooms and river overlook gazebo. A second millrace located on the east side of the dam extends from an old, deteriorating flow control structure downstream to a renovated structure that was likely an old mill house. The eastern millrace has a breach in the western berm that is contributing to erosion.

Carpentersville Dam Removal Project

The Forest Preserve District of Kane County and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources have partnered together in an effort to advance the state-wide dam removal initiative that focuses on removing the safety hazards created by low head dams and restoring the state's natural riverine resources. Multiple state agencies and environmental interest groups have done various scientific studies that identify old low head dams as a primary contributor to significant adverse impacts on the safety, ecology and water quality for natural waterways like the Fox River. The studies also show that the river could be substantially improved if the deteriorating dams and their associated upstream impoundments were eliminated. 

The Forest Preserve District of Kane County plans to remove the majority of the spillway of the Carpentersville Dam. The project is expected to provide multiple public benefits: 

• Increased public safety
• Improved fish populations upstream of the dam
• Improved water quality both upstream and downstream of the site
• Reduced need for expensive future upgrades at upstream wastewater treatment facilities

View the Carpentersville Dam Presentation with IDNR, V3 Companies and the Forest Preserve District of Kane County.

Thank you to those who took the Carpentersville Dam Removal Survey. The survey is now closed. We appreciate your feedback!