History

The Carleton Place dam was built in 1907 and included a hydroelectric generating station to provide the electricity for the Brown and Sons Flour Mill, located directly across the river from it. The generating station continued to provide power to the town of Carleton Place until the 1970s, when it was demolished. The dam was rebuilt in 1973 by the Mississippi River Improvement Company. MVCA took ownership of the dam in 1975.

The Carleton Place Dam is located on the Mississippi River, downstream of Mississippi Lake within the Town of Carleton Place. The dam maintains recreational levels on Mississippi Lake and provides flood control benefits for Mississippi Lake and downstream municipalities.

MVCA is completing a Dam Safety Review for the Carleton Place Dam in accordance with the Canadian Dam Association (CDA) dam safety guidelines and best practices summarized in the technical bulletins of the Ministry of Natural Resources' Lakes and Rivers Improvement Act. The project is funded through the provincial Water Erosion Control Infrastructure (WECI) Program.

The review identified high risk activities that must be addressed by installing critical public safety measures, including new safety boom, signs, railing, and fencing.  The existing public safety boom is in poor condition and needs to be replaced and relocated. The relocation will require the construction of new boom anchors. The new signs will be installed at the new boom anchors and on the upstream side of the Central Bridge on Bridge St., located west of the dam structure, to warn the public about the dangers associated with the dam. A new fencing, with appropriate signage, will be installed around the north embankment to restrict unauthorized access to the dam deck. A new railing, with appropriate signage, will also be installed to restrict unauthorized access to the overflow weir structure.  The design of public safety measures will be completed by end of March 2023 so that the project can be shovel ready for construction in late 2023.