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INTERIOR TOWNSHIP -- Even with the spillway shut down, Bond Falls was as breathtaking as ever on Thursday.

Meanwhile, 100 yards upstream, crews were building a protective enclosure, to keep water out, so they can tear up the old spillway later this spring.  The project costs approximately $8 million dollars.

The new spillway, owned and operated by the Upper Peninsula Power Company, will have the capacity to allow twice as much water through, as the current spillway, which was built in 1937.

"The recent studies and predictions indicate that the existing spillway may not be adequate to handle the predicted high inflows of water", said UPPCO, Regional Manager, James Melchiori.

UPPCO started drawing down the Bond Falls reservoir in January.

Right now it's down 18 feet, where it will stay until the project is completed at the end of November.

Then they'll bring the reservoir's level back up, which could take until 2013.

Besides replacing the spillway, UPPCO is also replacing the low-level bypass pipe that supplies water to the middle branch of the Ontonagon River and the Bond Falls, at roughly 300 gallons per second.

The new structure will allow for increased flows to the river and the falls, in the event the lake levels drop down to lower levels.

While there will be less water in the falls this summer, it's not too noticeable.

And the scenic area will be open through construction.