Ni 1 (nichols)

About Ni 1 (nichols)

The primary purpose of Ni 1 (nichols) is tailings. Tailings dams contain waste material from mining operations — typically a slurry of finely ground rock left over after valuable minerals have been extracted. These structures require ongoing monitoring because tailings can contain heavy metals and other contaminants. The dam is owned by Alafia Llc (private). It impounds the See Remarks near Mulberry.

The dam stands 43 feet tall and stretches 16,500 feet across, creates a reservoir covering 400 acres, and has a maximum storage capacity of 10,000 acre-feet. Completed in 1971, the structure is well into its service life at over 50 years old.

This dam carries a high hazard potential classification, which means that a failure or uncontrolled release of water would likely cause loss of human life. This classification reflects the consequences of failure, not the likelihood — it indicates that people live or work in the area downstream. Notably, no emergency action plan is currently on file for this high-hazard dam. The most recent inspection on record was 10/16/2014. That was 11 years ago — unusually long for a high-hazard dam, which typically requires more frequent inspections.

At 43 feet, this dam is taller than 89% of dams nationwide.

Living Downstream

If you live or work downstream of this dam, consider taking these steps: learn your local evacuation routes, check whether your county emergency management office has a dam failure inundation map, and sign up for local emergency alerts. The Florida dam safety program can provide more specific information about emergency planning for this structure.

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