“I would feel safe. I would personally take my family and camp at Kendall campground.”

Steven J. Roemhildt, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Nashville District, was responding to a reporter’s question about how confident he is that Wolf Creek Dam is not in imminent danger of catastrophic failure. Kendall Recreation Area is a popular camping and picnic spot immediately below the Wolf Creek Dam structure. The tailrace is also a popular trout fishing stream.

“I have employees living along the banks of the Cumberland River,” Roemhildt added, indicating he does not fear for their safety.

Speaking to a group of local reporters yesterday afternoon, Roemhildt said the current condition of Wolf Creek Dam “ ... is no worse or no better than it was last year or two years ago.” Roemhildt was accompanied to Somerset by Bill Peoples, chief of public affairs for the Corps. They met earlier in the day with city and county officials.

The Corps announced in August 2005 that the giant earthen and concrete structure that impounds 101-mile-long Lake Cumberland is leaking again and a $309 million, seven-year rehabilitation of the dam is necessary. The dam has been classified as a “high risk” for failure.

A week ago yesterday, the Corps revealed that the lake level will be lowered to 680 feet above sea level (43 feet below the tree line) at least for the remainder of this year to ease pressure on the ailing dam.

Roemhildt said yesterday that an accelerated grouting program is under way in an attempt to stop seepage through and beneath the earthen section of the dam and below the concrete portion of the structure. He said platforms are being constructed yesterday and today to support drilling equipment to force the liquid concrete into the dam.

A $51 million contract has been let to a Canadian firm to do the grouting. The dam will be re-evaluated this fall to determine the success of the project.

Reminded that much of the concrete washed away during a two-year grouting program in the late 1960s, Roemhildt conceded that some of the concrete might not stay in the dam, but he expressed confidence the grout will form a protective curtain.

Another contract will be awarded in December to insert a second concrete diaphragm through the earthen portion of the dam. Roemhildt said an original diaphragm put into the dam in the 1970s to stop leakage “is still working” according to piezometers (pressure reading devices) installed in the dam while the structure was being repaired in the 1970s.

Engineers insist that the current seepage is not nearly as serious as the leaks discovered in the 1960s when large sinkholes developed and muddy water was observed in the tailrace of the dam.

However, Roemhildt said yesterday there are visible signs that the dam is still leaking. He said there are “wet spots” and places where vegetation growth indicates water is coming through the structure.

“There is no water ‘flowing’ through the dam,” he pointed out.

The diaphragm inserted in the dam in the 1970s extended 25 feet into the bedrock. The planned diaphragm will go 100 feet into the bedrock and extend the entire length of the earthen portion of the dam.

Roemhildt is meeting personally with city and county officials above and below Wolf Creek Dam. “I know what an impact the lake has on these communities,” he remarked.

The 680-foot lake level is higher than recommended by a peer group of independent consulting engineers who suggested a level between 610 and 670 feet. A level of 610 is as low as the lake can be drained and 670 is below the intake pipe of at least one community that gets water from Lake Cumberland.

Roemhildt said the 680 foot level is more practical and emphasized that he is comfortable with that level. The target date to reach that level is February 12, he noted.

“If we get a lot of rain, it will go higher than that,” said Roemhildt. However, he said it is unlikely that the lake will go much lower than a foot below 680. “That’s our target,” he added.

Building a new dam was an option considered by the Corps, Roemhildt said, but such a course is not financially feasible.

Considering the $233 million annual benefit of the lake to this area, Roemhildt said the $310 million (original estimate was $300 million and later $309 million) is not very much. He emphasized, as he has before, that problems at Wolf Creek Dam “can be fixed.”

Asked when the level of Lake Cumberland might be raised, Roemhildt stated frankly: “I don’t know. I’m going to raise the lake when I feel it is safe to do so.”

He expressed confidence that the lake will go no lower than 680 feet unless sinkholes and slides appear or there is muddy water in the tailrace. None of these conditions exist, he emphasized.

“There is no change in the physical condition of the dam,” he reiterated.

Roemhildt said the Corps is in the process of preparing maps that show areas that would be inundated in case of a catastrophic failure of the dam. These maps will be available within a few days on the Internet and at the Pulaski County Public Library, he said.

He said the maps are being prepared, not necessarily because of fear of dam failure, but “ ... people want to know if my house” would be affected.

Corps engineers are planning a meeting in Washington, D.C. on Friday to see if money is available to assist in a mitigation program. Roemhildt expressed confidence that financial help will be forthcoming.

After that, town hall-type meetings will be held to explain the situation to the public.

In the event of a catastrophic failure, the very first telephone call would be made to the National Weather Service, then to county 9-1-1 systems.

“It would be treated like a tornado warning and would become the responsibility of county and state planners,” Roemhildt said.