Take a walk along a creek or river in Bucks County, and chances are you’ll find one. They look pretty. They look like a little adventure on the water.
They’re not. These low-head dams, the picturesque little waterfalls, are deceptive, dangerous and deadly. Experts and local first responders have called them “drowning machines.”
Tyler State Park Ranger Alec Campbell died on May 23 near one of the dams in the Neshaminy Creek when his kayak was swept over in a fast current.
Low-slung, these dams stretch shore-to-shore and are inviting to those unaware of what lies beneath.
What are low-head dams?
Low-head dams, like the Neshaminy Weir Dam near the boathouse in Tyler State Park in Newtown, is a manmade structure built over a stream or river that spans the entire width of the waterway, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers. It’s low — typically between 1 to 15-feet — and water flows over its top.
“The hydraulics of these things are generally not known by the public,” said Mike Parker, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. “There’s a low-head dam in the Susquehanna (River) in Harrisburg that’s killed around 30 people over the last few decades.”
Most of them likely thought it would be a harmless ride, like a water park ride, but it’s can easily result in drowning.
A safety vest hangs on a pole near the bank of the Neshaminy Creek where Tyler State Park Resource Ranger Alec Campbell was swept over a low-head dam. The hydraulic effects of low-heads can pin a person underwater.
Why low-head dams are deadly
Even in calm water, the power of the falls will trap a person in a “washing machine effect.”
Water pours over the lip of the dam and drops. A square foot of water weighs 62 pounds. Multiply that by millions of gallons an hour, and chances of escape diminish.
Not even a rescuer can help. That’s because the churning water is similar to that of a top-loading washing machine, dragging objects to the bottom, tossing them to the top, and repeating. The force can pin a person beneath the water for days.
Below the surface, low head dams create strong recirculating currents and turbulent water that can trap people underwater. These hydraulic forces are strong enough to drown an experienced swimmer or boater wearing a life vest.
Dam deaths on the Neshaminy
That’s what happened to two teenagers on the Neshaminy Creek in the summer of 2013, at the Neshaminy Falls low-head dam in Bensalem.
The friends from childhood, along with a third teen, decided to jump into the roiling creek after a heavy rain, and ride over the dam. Two of the boys were trapped in the churn. After a two-day search, their bodies were recovered, one only 30 feet from the dam.
Low-head dams are so deadly that in 2023, Brigham Young University assembled a list of every low-head dam in the United States, along with the fatalities. Its report concluded, “In the U.S., more people have drowned at low-head dams in the last 50 years than from all the large dam failures during the same time period.”
At least six people have died at low-head dams on the Neshaminy Creek in Bucks County, according to the BYU’s research.
Teens die in Neshaminy Tragedy on the Neshaminy
A pair of socks lay near where a Tyler State Park Ranger was swept over the dam on May 23, 2025.
Parker, of the Fish and Boat Commission, said that’s why state law requires all low-head dams to be well-marked as dangerous. The dam in Tyler State Park had at least a half-dozen warnings to stay off the dam and stay out of the water.
“You can never underestimate the power of water, no matter how nice it looks,” he said.
The lethal nature of low-head dams is especially deceptive. On the water, from a canoe or kayak, an optical illusion is created blending the water levels into one. It may look like smooth sailing, with very little to no drop at all, until your kayak, canoe or boat draws near to the falls.
A kayak and canoe rental business is near the low-head dam in Tyler State Park. Amateur paddlers seeking a pleasant hour on the creek put into the water no more than 200 feet from the dangerous falls.
State law requires boaters to receive safety instructions before launching, which includes wearing life vests and basic navigation.
“Statistics show that wearing (a life vest) is a major factor in saving your life,” Parker said. “As soon as you get on a creek or river with moving water, you’ve got obstacles and currents and wind and sun and these are all factors that cause people to get into trouble.
The low-head dam where Tyler State Park Ranger Alec Campbell died is posted with signs warning to stay away from the falls, per state law. A kayak rental business is next to the dam.
“The incident at Tyler State Park is a difficult one,” Parker said, “because he is a park employee and not some inexperienced boater, though I don’t know what his experience is.”
Neither does the public. The Pennsylvania State Police is investigating Campbell’s death, but whatever they find will not be released to the public, said Trooper Nathan T. Branosky. A pending county coroner’s report may shed more light on what happened.
However, reporting since May 23 suggests the likelihood that Campbell was setting two striped warning buoys in front of the dam, and stringing a safety line from shore to shore, when he and his kayak were swept over the dam in a swift current from two previous days of heavy rains.
GoFundMe How to help family of ranger Alec Campbell who died on duty at Tyler State Park in Bucks
There are at least 20 low-head dams in Bucks County
In an effort to spread awareness of the dangers and risks associated with low-head dams, the American Society of Civil Engineers has been collaborating with the Association of State Dam Safety Officials and the U.S. Society on Dams to create a national inventory showing the locations of low-head dams across the country. The map, which continues to be updated as these dams are catalogued, shows the location of low-head dams along several waterways in Bucks County:
Cooks Creek near Durham Forge in Durham
Tohickon Creek, south of Richlandtown Road in Quakertown
Unami Creek, east of Nursery Road Historic Bridge in Quakertown
East Branch Perkiomen Creek, by Lake Lenape Park in Sellersville
Tohickon Creek, by Traugers Park in Pipersville
North Branch Neshaminy Creek, northeast of Callowhill Road in Chalfont
North Branch Neshaminy Creek, north of Park Avenue in Chalfont
Pauncussing Creek, southeast of Old Carversville Road in Solebury
Neshaminy Creek, near Castle Valley Mill in Doylestown
Little Neshaminy Creek, behind Creek View shopping center in Warrington
Aquetong Creek, south of Route 202 in New Hope
Pidcock Creek, east of Van Sandt Covered Bridge in New Hope
Pidcock Creek in Washington Crossing Historic Park
Neshaminy Creek, by the Tyler State Park boathouse in Newtown
Neshaminy Creek, in Tylers State Park north of Richboro Road in Newtown
Buck Creek, near Houston Road in Morrisville
Buck Creek, behind St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Yardley
Neshaminy Creek, north of the railroad bridge in The Falls Park in Trevose
Neshaminy Creek, north of Hulmeville Road in Bensalem
Poquessing Creek, behind the Gate House apartments in Bensalem
Delaware River, by the Waterworks condominiums in New Hope
Map of low head dams in Pennsylvania
JD Mullane can be reached at jmullane@couriertimes.com. Michele Haddon can be reached at MHaddon@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: PA’s dams can be lethal on creeks, rivers. How to stay safe on water