“To acquire more storage capacity for raw water and to furnish water for pumping, to save power, the present 60 Ft. or Potters Falls Resorvoir was started one and one half miles east of the City in Six Mile Creek and December 27, 1911, this dam was finished, together with a 24″ pipe line to the Filtration Plant, and the following year, 1912, hydraulic turbines were installed in Van Nattas Pumping Station to make use of this water power for pumping filtered water to the pumping zones.”1
The reservoir behind this dam provides water for the City of Ithaca.
The photo from 1939 shows a worker guniting the dam. Guniting is a process of spraying a mixture of concrete and water from a high pressure hose to repair damage to a concrete structure.
- Dorothy Harris, History of Ithaca's Water Systems, City of Ithaca D.P.W., 1952, p. 7.