Vandals spill millions of gallons of water from reservoir

Last Update: 9/17/2009 6:57 pm

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Vandals spill millions of gallons of water from reservoir

HODGEMAN COUNTY, Kansas -- Millions of gallons of water have escaped a Kansas dam. The problem is that it wasn’t supposed to happen and now authorities are calling the case a crime.

The incident happened September 10^th and now authorities are searching for who’s responsible for tampering with the recently-completed Horsethief Reservoir in Hodgeman County.

It was only last week that Horsethief Reservoir passed state inspection. The quality of construction was checked out, but maybe they should have looked at one more thing – security.

"Somebody broke in, climbed over the fence, and let just a little bit of water out,” said Park Manager Josh Hobbs.

Officials say it was a calculated case of vandalism where someone used tools on the control valves to partially open a spillway gate. Nearly 135 million gallons were released into Buckner Creek – that’s about two inches off the lake. But since it was a controlled release there was no imminent danger to life or property down the stream.

"We lost a little bit of water, but we've still got plenty of water coming in and we're actually letting water out downstream now,” Hobbs said.

KSN spoke to officials with the Department of Agriculture who recently inspected the dam and they admit it never occurred to them to check valve security. They say now there will be some more thought put into that when looking at reservoirs in the future. The dam has since added a few safety measures.

With a new security light and chains now on the valves, dam officials say they're confident this won't happen again.

The Hodgeman Sheriff’s Department will continue to work on making the reservoir more secure and have notified the KBI of the incident. So far, the sheriff says they have no suspects and no motive at this time.

An arrest in the case could lead to misdemeanor charges. But should it happen again, officials say the crime could be considered an act of terrorism.

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