Dams at Risk: 65-Foot Crack in Washington State Dam

[Howard]

A large crack has been found in the Wanapum Dam on the Columbia River which supports the utility power supply to a major cluster of data centers in central Washington state.

 

65-Foot Crack Found in Washington State Dam (Feb 25)

The 2-inch-wide crack was found Thursday after divers were sent into the Columbia River because engineers detected a misalignment in a spillway on Wanapum Dam near the central Washington town of Vantage, said Tom Stredwick, a spokesman for the Grant County Public Utility District.

The Wanapum Dam generates more than 1,000 megawatts of electricity for the Grant County PUD, the utility that provides electricity to major data centers operated by Microsoft, Yahoo, Dell, Sabey Data Centers and Vantage Data Centers.

On February 25, dam officials noticed an irregular bowing of the dam near a section of a spillgate pier along the mile-long structure. Divers examined the area Thursday and discovered a two-inch wide crack running horizontally, located about 75 feet below the water’s surface. It runs the entire width of the 65-foot-wide pier.

The risk of a failure of the dam is high enough that the county has initiated an emergency plan. To relieve pressure on the dam, the water level is being lowered by 20 feet.

Source

 

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Owen Falls Dam in Uganda Falling Apart (Feb 28)
The Owen Falls dam in Jinja could cave in, if the cracks and damage to the dam are not repaired, an official of Eskom, the hydro power generation company, has said.

Huge cracks continue to develop in the walls and supporting pillars of the dam. Water continuously sips through the gaping holes, expanding the cracks and making the dam weaker by the day.

Source

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Lake Manatee Dam at Risk of Collapse (Feb 14)

The Lake Manatee Dam in Bradeton, Florida is in a "severely distressed state" because of erosion, engineering consultants have found, forcing county officials to take corrective actions.

Heavy rains over four or five days could compromise the Lake Manatee Dam, Manatee County government warned in a news release February 14.

As a precaution, workers have begun to lower the water level of the lake.

Engineers and officials are concerned that the dam's clay core may have been compromised.

Source

 

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Water Gushes over Crumbling Dam in Zimbabwe (Feb 9)

A dam on the Tokwe river in the Masvingo area of Zimbabwe is close to bursting as water from heavy rains finding its way through gaps in the uncompleted dam wall.

Construction of the Tokwe Mukorsi dam began in 1998 but stalled in 2008. The dam was due to be completed at the end of last year but the deadline has passed with construction still not finished. Pictures from the area show water gushing through breaks in the wall and a huge build up of water in the reservoir behind it. Villagers have been evacuated as quickly as possible, with around 4,000 people believed to be at risk should the dam burst.

According to the Daily News, the Zimbabwe Air Force is helping people evacuate. The Minister for Masvingo province is quoted as saying that the government is on high alert and "A helicopter from the AFZ has been airlifting some families who were marooned by the floods but we are not yet sure how many people are still marooned."

Source

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"All dams will break either during the pole shift or in the months leading up to the hour of the shift. Look at the structure of the dam! It assumes that rock holding both sides of the dam will remain in place and not move. Of course these sides will move. This is a subduction zone! There is mountain building and even where the mountains are not being pushed upward, they are moving from side to side. Some parts are more fluid than others, which are more resistant during any earthquake thrust, so there IS inevitably movement to the side. They will pull apart, slide forward or backwards, but in any case the water will find its way around the dam." 

ZetaTalk Chat Q&A: July 18, 2009

image source

[KM]

http://strangesounds.org/2017/07/toxic-tsunami-wastewater-israel-de...

Toxic tsunami kills everything on its path in the desert of Israel

Toxic wastewater that surged through a dry riverbed in southern Israel during the weekend left a wake of ecological destruction more than 20 km (12 miles) long.

The tsunami of acid most probably killed all the plants and animals in the valley and will trigger, on the long term, large functional ecological problems.

The flood began last Friday when the 60 meter (yard) high wall of a reservoir at a phosphate factory partially collapsed, letting loose 100,000 cubic meters (26.4 million gallons) of highly acidic wastewater in the Ashalim riverbed – enough fluid to fill 40 Olympic-sized pools.

‘Toxic tsunami’ of wastewater gushes over Israeli desert killing animals and plants after reservoir wall collapse.

The toxic torrent snaked through the desert, singeing anything in its path, before collecting again hours later in a pool several kilometers from the Dead Sea, already eaten by sinkholes.

Days later, the ground is still stained a dark brown and giving off a nauseating acidic stench, more potent than a highly chlorinated swimming pool.

The flood measuring the size of 40 Olympic swimming pools damaged wildlife in the area so badly experts think it could take years to recover

Israel’s Ministry of Environment has opened a criminal investigation into the plant’s owner, Rotem Amfert, and its parent company Israel Chemicals (ICL).

The environmental accident happened when a 60-metre-high wall of the reservoir partially fell at the phosphate factory partially crumbled.

“All the plants and animals in the valley during the tsunami of acid were probably highly damaged, probably dead,” said Oded Netzer, an ecologist for the ministry. “In the long term, there will be soil damage and large functional ecological problems.”

A collapsed wall of a reservoir holding a highly acidic wastewater is seen in Mishor Rotem, in Southern Israel July 4, 2017. The entire area has been left singed in a dark brown colour and the Phosphorus has left a sickening smell lingering over the area.

He said weeks of intense clean-up work, including pumping out small pools of the wastewater that remain along the path, lay ahead, and complete rehabilitation would likely take years.

They are destroying our Earth to fill their pokets with money!

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2017/may/03/levee-northeastern-a...

Levee in northeast Arkansas fails, weather service says; flash flood emergency declared

This article was published today at 9:06 a.m.

Water rises from the Black River Wednesday morning flooding part of Pocahontas.

A levee on the water-logged Black River that experienced record levels of rain in northeastern Arkansas gave way Wednesday morning, causing a flash flood emergency for people in the area, weather officials said.

The levee near the town of Pocahontas in Randolph County was breached, the National Weather Service of Little Rock said shortly before 8:40 a.m.

That area was said by the agency to be in a flash flood emergency with life-threatening flooding likely.

At 7 p.m. Tuesday, the Black River level was 29.1 feet, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported. Levees in that area of the river are reportedly built to withstand 28 feet.

Several water rescues had been performed by 9:45 a.m. just south of Pocahontas in Shannon near the intersection of U.S. 67 and Arkansas 90, the National Weather Service of Memphis said in a tweet.

There were multiple breaches along the earthen levee structure, said Scott McNeil, a forecaster with the Memphis weather service office said. Details on how the levee failed were not immediately known, said McNeil, who noted the Army Corp of Engineers as well as local emergency management officials are tracking the flooding at the scene.

Typically when earthen levees fail, it means water got too heavy and washed out part or parts of the structure, said Dennis Cavanaugh with the National Weather Service in Little Rock.

The breach “hasn’t happened before" he said.

"So we don’t know what’s going to happen," he said. "The main concern is that the east side of Pocahontas, it’s already flooding, but it will receive even more flooding.”

The levee failure will “put a lot of water where it’s not supposed to be,” Cavanaugh said.

At least seven deaths have been attributed to weekend storms that brought 6 to 8 inches of rain to northern Arkansas and high levels of precipitation to much of the state.

Officials earlier predicted the collapse of the levee would send a "wall of water" toward neighboring Lawrence County.

An evacuation order was issued Monday for the eastern portion of Pocahontas which includes about 150 homes, an assisted-living apartment complex and many businesses. Most people left by Tuesday but a few residents reportedly opted to stay in their homes rather than seeking shelter elsewhere.

The National Weather Service of Memphis on Wednesday morning noted on Twitter that the levee had failed and told Pocahontas residents and people in the area to "seek higher ground now."

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://www.nirapadnews.com/english/dam-collapse-destroys-10000ha-of...

Dam collapse destroys 10000ha of cropland at Shonir Haor

Post by: Joy | Published: , 6:08 pm | Category: Countrywide

23 April 2017, Nirapad News; Around 10,000 hectares of cropland has been destroyed as part of the dam at Shonir Haor in Tahirpur upazila collapsed early on Sunday.

The embankment collapsed around 1.00am due to increased water level in the haor, said upazila chairman Kamruzzaman Kamrul.

Incessant rainfall paired with water flowing down from the upstream hilly areas increased the water level on the hoar, said the chairman.

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://www.geoengineer.org/news-center/news/item/1680-dam-collapse-...

Tuesday, 11 April 2017 00:00

Dam collapse in Paraguay causes major flooding

Credits: The Watchers

The dam of San Benito Lake in Paraguay's Itapúa department breached on April 9, 2017, leading to a major flash flooding event, that broke the Graneros del Sur road in two.

Authorities said there were no casualties, but the flooding caused major infrastructural damage. It seems that the collapse occurred as a result of the rupture of the dam, caused by the immense flow of water that fell during the heavy rainfall that began the previous day.

The dam was used by San Benito agricultural school for electricity but was abandoned for a long time. According to locals, the water levels in San Benito Lake were low for the past 30 years, before the recent extremely heavy rains that hit tha country. The Ministry of Public Works and Communications stated that the dam administrators should have opened the floodgate to release the water.

This was one of three flash flood events in the south of Paraguay that occurred after the heavy rains of Saturday, April 8. The overflow of two more streams also caused significant damage in nearby regions, though luckily no casualties.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBB6cbI0juE

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://dailytimes.com.pk/world/18-Feb-17/seven-killed-as-dam-bursts...

Seven killed as dam bursts in Iran

TEHRAN: Iranian state media reported that he was among at least seven people killed as floods, avalanches and dust storms gripped the country.

A 40-year-old man was swept away while taking a photograph beside a river swollen by the breach of an  earthen dam near the southeastern city of Jiroft, a Red Crescent official told Iranian media.

His body has yet to be recovered.

The dam burst flooded parts of Jiroft, damaging dozens of homes. A second man was killed in a flash flood in the southwestern province of Bushehr.

The torrential rain caused flooding across the south, from Khuzestan province on the Iraqi border to Sistan-Baluchistan province on the border with Pakistan.

Thousands fled villages downstream from dams fearing collapses like that in Jiroft.

In the north, at least five people have been killed in avalanches over the past two weeks as up to two metres (more than six feet) of snow fell in the Zagros and Alborz mountains.

Hundreds of villages were cut off in the provinces of Kurdistan, East Azerbaijan and Gilan.

Even as downpours gripped much of the south, residents of some areas near the Iraqi border were praying for rain as some of the worst dust storms in years sent hundreds to hospital with respiratory problems.

Photographs shared on social media showed cars, kitchens and furniture caked in thick dust beneath an orange sky.

The dust level in the air was 18 times the normal levels, officials in Khuzestan province said.

Long power cuts hit the cities of Ahvaz, Khoramshahr and Abadan as the combination of the dust and up to 98 percent humidity played havoc with the electricity grid.

In Ahvaz, residents held demonstrations calling for government assistance. Several artists and celebrities launched a solidarity campaign on social media.

Some 50 members of parliament have also written to President Hassan Rouhani in support of the campaign.

Freak weather has swept though much of the Gulf, normally renowned for its deserts and searing heat. Snow fell in the hills of the United Arab Emirates as high winds forced the cancellation of a stage of cycling's Tour of Dubai.

This week torrential train disrupted every day of the Qatar Open women's tennis tournament.

The seasonal dust storms in southwest Iran have been intensifying for years as prolonged drought has triggered increasing desertification, not just in Iran but also in neighbouring Iraq and in Saudi Arabia beyond.

Khuzestan province hosts many of Iran's largest oil fields but its large ethnic Arab community has long complained that the government has not invested enough in infrastructure or measures to tackle chronic air pollution.

[Howard]

Evacuations Ordered, Oroville Dam Spillway Collapse Imminent (Feb 12)

An immediate evacuation has been ordered late Sunday afternoon for areas downstream from the Oroville Dam after use of the structure’s emergency spillway was on the verge of collapse because of severe erosion, according to authorities.

The Butte County Sheriff’s Department issued the evacuation order after the hazardous situation developed. Authorities are concerned the erosion could lead to the failure of the Oroville Dam.

Failure of the auxiliary spillway structure will result in an uncontrolled release of flood waters from Lake Oroville.

The National Weather Service said at about 4:45 p.m. that officials anticipate a failure of the auxiliary spillway in the next 60 minutes.

Residents of Oroville should evacuate in a northward direction such as towards Chico, National Weather Service officials said. Other cities should follow the orders of their local law enforcement.

Sources

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/02/12/oroville-residents-told-to-ev...

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2017/02/12/emergency-spillway-flow...

[KM]

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2017/02/10/anderson-reservoir-is-s...

Anderson Reservoir Is So Full Of Water That It’s Seismically Unsafe

South Bay water officials are urgently trying to lower a reservoir to reduce pressure on a shaky dam. 

The Anderson Reservoir in Morgan Hill is just a couple of miles east of U.S. Highway 101. 

The dam is especially vulnerable right now if an earthquake happens to strike. 

Water gushes from the bottom of the Anderson Dam. The release valve is wide open and crowds are coming to see what looks like a water show. 

Sean Barragan, of Morgan Hill, said, "It's pretty awesome. It's not a thing you see every day." 

But it's not just for show. 

The water district is trying to quickly lower the level of the reservoir, because it's not seismically safe to be as full as it is now. 

A 2009 study found a large earthquake next to the dam could cause a failure. 

Since then state regulators placed a cap on the dam at 68 percent of capacity. 

But the recent rains have boosted the level to 91 percent of capacity. 

In the drought it was never an issue, but it is now. 

Marty Grimes, with the Santa Clara Valley Water District said, "It's a very remote possibility that we would have an earthquake of such a magnitude that close to the reservoir. That's what we're hoping against. That's what we're planning for and that's why we have a project to rehabilitate the reservoir." 

Monitors have been placed around the dam to monitor any movement. But retrofitting the dam is still years away. 

Morgan Hill residents have been marveling about how quickly water levels rose, but they worry about a quake and what could happen. 

Neighbor Janey Pedrizetti said, "They say that Morgan Hill will be under two feet of water. So let's hope that never happens."

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865672938/Broken-dam-in-northeas...

http://gephardtdaily.com/local/developing-nevada-dam-collapse-leads...

Nevada dam collapse leads to dangerous flash flooding in Elko County near Utah border

February 9, 2017

ELKO COUNTY, Nevada, Feb 8. 2017 (Gephardt Daily) — Soaking rains combined with heavy run-off from melting snowpacks led to a dam breach in northeastern Nevada Wednesday, flooding roads and low-lying areas in what the National Weather Service called “a life-threatening situation.”

A large swath of the 21-Mile-Dam located in Elko County, 35 miles northeast of Wells, Nev., gave way late Wednesday afternoon, sending a wall of water rushing downstream, washing out roads and flooding range lands before swamping the area known as Gamble Ranch and the nearby town of Montello.

Flood waters threaten the U.S. Post Office in the town of Montello, Nevada, Feb. 8, 2017. Photo: Evelyn Smith Cook

The widespread flooding closed traffic on State Route 223. It also brought a halt to train traffic on the rail lines used by Union Pacific.

Elko County Sheriff Jim Pitts told the media flooding in the area was the worst he has seen in more than three decades.

The National Weather Service in Elko predicted more rain overnight and into Thursday morning.

The NWS forecast came with a warning to motorists, saying that in the event of continued flash flooding, “Do not drive through flooded roadways and seek higher ground immediately. Due to uncertainty in how the flood wave will progress, it is strongly recommended to stay away from the area.”

another link:

http://wfxl.com/news/nation-world/flash-flood-warnings-after-dam-br...

Flash flood warnings after dam break in northeast Nevada

Thursday, February 9th 2017

Flash flood warnings after dam break in northeast Nevada (CNN Van Video)

MONTELLO, Nev. - No injuries were reported after a dam broke Wednesday, sending rushing water three feet deep to communities downstream.

Twentyone Mile Dam in Elko County, Nev. had emergency crews warning residents to seek higher ground.

It's unclear what led to the break.

[Starr DiGiacomo]

Crisis escalated

https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2017/02/07/engineers-assess-spillway-prob...

With Oroville Spillway Damage Spreading, Officials Prepare for Reservoir to Overflow

FEBRUARY 9, 2017

Water coming down the badly damaged Oroville Dam spillway on Thursday, hours after water managers decided to continue releases down the impaired structure in an attempt to keep Lake Oroville from overflowing. (Kelly M. Grow/California Department of Water Resources)

Update, 7:15 p.m. Thursday: The situation surrounding the damaged spillway at Oroville Dam has escalated into a crisis, with state water managers hoping they can dump enough water down the badly compromised structure to prevent the state’s second-largest reservoir from pouring over an emergency release point that has never been used before.

Flow rates down the collapsing spillway were increased late Thursday morning to 35,000 cubic feet per second. The result was a spectacle of churning mud and water and the further damage to the concrete structure.

[Starr DiGiacomo]

https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2017/02/07/engineers-assess-spillway-prob...

Engineers Assess Spillway Damage at Oroville Dam

FEBRUARY 8, 2017

Updated 12:25 p.m. Wednesday

State water officials say engineers are still in the process of assessing damage to the spillway at Oroville Dam and figuring out what they can do to fix it.

“They’re evaluating the situation intensively this morning,” said Ted Thomas, the chief spokesman for Department of Water Resources. “They’re looking at what their options are for repair.”

An extensive section of concrete on the spillway, which is used to manage the level of Lake Oroville, has peeled away or collapsed.

At the time the problem was spotted at midday Tuesday, water managers were in the process of ramping up the volume of water being dumped down the spillway into the Feather River. That was necessary to make room for high flows coming into the reservoir, the state’s second largest, from a series of storms that have dumped very heavy rain over the Feather River watershed.

Releases were reduced from about 60,000 cubic feet per second to just 5,000 CFS — the amount being routed through the dam’s hydroelectric generating facility.

The immediate result of curtailing the releases while huge amounts of runoff stream into the reservoir has been a very rapid rise in the lake’s level. In the 20 hours after releases were reduced at midday Tuesday, Lake Oroville has risen 10 feet and added 150,000 acre-feet.

If current release and flow rates persisted — and that’s not a sure thing by any means — the reservoir would reach its 3.5 million acre-foot capacity in the next three or four days.

If that happens, Thomas said, the dam’s emergency spillway — which has not been used since the dam was finished in the late 1960s — would channel floodwaters down a hillside into the river.

Thomas said he expected details on a proposed fix for the spillway damage later Wednesday.

Below: DWR photo gallery depicting damage to spillway and erosion to adjacent area.

Previous update, 5:35 p.m. Tuesday: California Department of Water Resources crews are assessing a potentially serious problem with Oroville Dam, the giant structure that impounds the Feather River to create the state’s second-largest reservoir.

Tuesday morning, the spillway that managers use to release water from Lake Oroville into the river appeared to suffer a partial collapse. That led to the shutdown of the spillway while engineers assess its condition.

Department officials say the dam itself, perched above the Sacramento Valley about 130 miles northeast of San Francisco, is not in danger.

The timing of the shutdown is critical: A huge amount of runoff is coming into Lake Oroville from the Feather River watershed after recent storms. To maintain room in the reservoir to contain the incoming flows, a high volume of water — about 55,000 cubic feet per second — was being released down the spillway.

With the spillway closed for the time being, there’s no way to release water from the dam except through a hydroelectric powerhouse built into the structure. Only about 5,000 cubic feet per second can be released through the powerhouse.

The net effect is that with releases virtually halted and heavy inflows from a series of very wet winter storms continuing to pour into the reservoir, the lake is rising steadily.

As of 3 p.m. Tuesday, Lake Oroville was 82 percent full and was 150,000 acre-feet above the storage level prescribed to maintain room for incoming floodwaters.

The Department of Water Resources said in a statement that “sufficient capacity exists within the reservoir to capture projected inflows for at least days, and DWR expects to resume releases from the gated spillway at a rate deemed later today after a thorough inspection is performed.”

Oroville Dam is an earth-fill dam and was dedicated in 1968. At 700 feet high, it’s the highest dam in the United States.

What does the spillway look like under normal conditions? Here’s a video shot Monday, when managers had ramped up releases from 25,000 cubic feet per second top 50,000 CFS (see below for some perspective on the flow numbers):

The flow perspective: One cubic foot of water is 7.48 gallons. So 55,000 cubic feet per second, roughly the volume being released down the spillway before problems were detected Tuesday, comes out to 411,400 gallons a second. That equals 1.26 acre-feet — enough water to flood a football field to a depth of 15 inches.

An acre-foot, in turn, is roughly the amount of water used each year by two “average” California households. So the volume of water pounding down the spillway every second is close to what three household would use in a year.aQ