Dam repair schedule could be shortened

Local News

March 1, 2007

BY BILL MARDIS Editor Emeritus The Commonwealth Journal Thu Mar 01, 2007, 09:13 AM EST

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has good news for the “Ohio Navy” and business people in the Lake Cumberland area who serve the tourist industry. Corps officials say they are trying to shorten by two years the time it takes to rehabilitate Wolf Creek Dam.

Mike Zoccola, chief of the Civil Design Branch for the Corps, pointed out that the “ ... official or published schedule” has been seven years -- two years for grouting and five years to insert a diaphragm into the earthen part of the structure. This announced timetable projects the completion in 2014.

However, Zoccola told the Commonwealth Journal Wednesday that if funded at proper levels the repair project could be completed more quickly.

Some $51 million to rehabilitate Wolf Creek Dam are in the current federal budget. Reportedly President Bush’s proposed budget for the 2007-2008 fiscal year includes another $54 million for the dam. Zoccola did not say how much more money will be needed to compress the repair timetable.

Zoccola said the original plan for rehabilitating Wolf Creek Dam called for a five-year repair program. He said if the project is funded at sufficient levels the Corps could revert to the original five-year schedule.

The engineer said separating the grouting from the diaphragm already has put the project a year ahead. Normally, the diaphragm and grouting are in the same contract, he remarked.

Advanced Construction Techniques Ltd., Ontario, Canada, began an accelerated grouting program in December. A contract to insert a four-foot-thick concrete diaphragm through the earthen section of the dam to 100 feet into the bedrock is currently scheduled for awarding this coming December.

The diaphragm called for in the current project will be upstream from a similar concrete wall put in the dam during the 1970s. The first diaphragm was about three feet thick and extended only about 25 feet into the bedrock. It did not go the entire length of the earthen section.

The new diaphragm will go about 75 feet deeper into the bedrock and extend all the way from the concrete section of the dam to the end of the earthen part at the road (U.S. 127). Corps officials say they believe that at 100 feet into the bedrock the diaphragm will be below the limestone karst that causes the leaks.

Wolf Creek Dam was built during the 1940s atop a limestone base honeycombed with cavities. Limestone deteriorates in water and the tremendous pressure on Wolf Creek Dam eventually forces water to find a path beneath or through the dam. Corps officials insist that the current seepage is not nearly as serious as the situation discovered in the late 1960s. Then, sinkholes developed and muddy water was running in the tailrace.

However, mainly because of the way the Corps evaluates dams since Hurricane Katrina, Wolf Creek Dam is considered at “high risk” of failure. Lt. Col. Steven Roemhildt, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Nashville District, and other Corps officials have said they would feel safe camping at Kendall Recreation Area directly downstream from the dam. Kendall remains open to visitors and the Corps has indicated that improvements are planned at the camping area.

Zoccola said the dam is monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Somebody checks on the dam structure during every shift, he added.

The dam has been under close scrutiny since March 2005 when the Corps decided a major rehabilitation of the structure is necessary. In January of this year, the Corps said the lake level would be lowered to 680 feet above sea level, or 43 feet below the tree line, at least for the remainder of this year.

Roemhildt has said several times that the lake level will be raised only when it is safe to do so. The situation at the dam will be re-evaluated in September or October to see if the grouting now underway has stopped the seepage sufficiently to change the water level. Grouting is forcing liquid concrete into cavities in the dam.

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Pulaski carries Girdler to win

In the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s primary election, it was impossible to miss the colorful signs dotting nearly every Pulaski roadway. The names in the race for the 15th State Senatorial District seat popped out: A.C. Donahue. Chris Girdler. Mark Polston.

Once citizens hit the ballots, however, the results mirrored the dimensions of the signs themselves: Chris Girdler stood the tallest.

Girdler, deputy district director for Congressman Harold “Hal” Rogers, ran away with the votes inside Pulaski County’s borders, earning 3,926 votes for 62.05 percent of the total number cast.

That number more than doubled the next highest vote-getter, businessman Mark Polston, who raked in 1,624 votes for 25.67 percent.

However, Polston — who owns Classic Carpet, a home-flooring business located just off the southern 914 bypass — can claim a moral victory ... three of them, in fact. In all three counties in the district other than Pulaski — those being Adair, Casey, and Russell Counties — Polston actually edged out Girdler.

In Adair, Polston beat Girdler 629 to 394. In Casey County, it was 538 to 417, and in Russell, it was 1,862 to 1,038.

Polston said he just “couldn’t pull it out with the numbers” and that “the machine worked for” Girdler in Pulaski County.

“I think that was their strategy — I think they had a Pulaski County strategy all along,” said Polston. “They played the political game well.”

Polston said the difference between his and Girdler’s campaigns was that “mine was a very, very grass roots campaign,” he said. “I did not have a political machine behind me. I understand how this process works, and in this instance, he prevailed.”

As for why Girdler didn’t take three of four counties, the winning candidate — since there are no Democrats in the race, winning the Republican primary was effectively a final victory for Girdler — said he didn’t have an answer for that.

However, “I believe things happen for a reason and I hope the long and strenuous campaign will only heighten my desire to move beyond the bitterness and partisanship of the recent past,” said Girdler.

“Regionalism is a goal of mine, and I look forward to helping all four counties,” he added, noting that he campaigned heavily in each of them.

Sen. Vernie McGaha, the long-time state senator whose seat the candidates were vying for, actually supported Polston after Liberty’s Todd Hoskins dropped out of the race earlier this month.

Donahue, a local attorney, got 556 votes in Pulaski County, 8.79 percent of the vote. He only received 145 votes in Russell County, 74 in Adair County, and 75 in Casey County, where hometown candidate Hoskins almost matched him with 71 votes despite no longer being officially in the race.

Polston said he’s “still digesting” what happened, and though “the process has been a very good experience for me,” he wouldn’t commit to running again in the future. “I wouldn’t shut the door to anything, but I’m not opening any doors either.”

Still, “I think I got a lot of people involved in the process that had not been involved before and would not have been otherwise,” he said. “A lot of people got out and worked really hard, got motivated to talk to friends and neighbors. I think a lot of people became involved through this campaign that are going to be involved for a long time.”

Girdler stressed his “positive message” and said that Rogers is a “mentor and good friend” that he would turn to for advice in dealing with a frequently combative legislative body in Frankfort, one for which Girdler hopes to help change the culture.

Girdler said that he was “confident and optimistic” during the day Tuesday because he’d “worked extremely hard.” Nevertheless, the realization that he’d won gave him “chill bumps,” he said.

“I’m absolutely honored,” said Girdler. “The position of state senator is more than an honor, more than an office. It’s a charge to keep, and I will give it my all.

“I pledge to be the people’s state senator,” he added. “I look forward to working with everyone to move this region forward.”

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