Studies in 2000 and 2002 recommended that the dam be rehabilitated to meet provincial dam safety requirements. The rehabilitation project includes repairing erosion protection that was damaged in the flood of July 2000; replacing the existing 17 stop logs with gates that will be less prone to blockage by debris; and repairing other aspects of the dam, such as the concrete.
The work is expected to be complete by 1 April 2007, in time to allow fish to spawn. If the work is not completed by then, it will resume after the spawn. However, the hinged gates would not be used to fill the river until 15 June, a month later than normal.
The dam is owned by the City of London in Ontario, but managed under contract by the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority, for recreation, flood protection, and fisheries management. A construction tender was awarded by the City of London in August 2006 to MacLean Taylor Construction of St. Marys, Ontario. Hatch Acres of Niagara Falls are the consulting engineers overseeing the construction.
Located on the main branch of the Thames river in southwest London, Springbank dam was constructed at this site in 1929 to replace a dam located a short distance upstream. The original dam had been built to provide water power for pumping to a water reservoir at the top of the hill to the south.
Springbank dam is 67m long and 9.75m in height. The dam is supported on the glacial till by a concrete pad with concrete cutoffs, which extend an additional 2.43m into the subsoil. The dam creates a reservoir with an area of 55ha and has an upstream drainage area of 3116km3.
