$134 million in budget for dam

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February 5, 2010

By BILL MARDIS, Editor Emeritus The Commonwealth Journal Fri Feb 05, 2010, 08:22 PM EST

Somerset — President Barack Obama’s budget for fiscal 2011 now before Congress contains $134 million to continue rehabilitation of Wolf Creek Dam. The money is part of $4.939 billion in gross discretionary funding for the Civil Works program of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

“That ($134 million) is exactly what we asked for and that’s (the amount) in the president’s budget,” said Bill Peoples, public affairs chief for the Corps’ Nashville District. The budget must be approved and the money appropriated by Congress before funds are available. Total cost of repairing the seepage-plagued dam is $584 million.

Peoples, who has resumed his former position as head of public affairs after a two-year special assignment, said repairs at Wolf Creek Dam are on track and scheduled for completion in December 2012.

Businesses along Lake Cumberland that depend on tourism are hoping the lake, held about 40 feet below normal since January 2007, will be allowed to rise by the 2011 vacation season.

David Hendrix, project manager for the dam repairs, said an evaluation of the lake level won’t occur until the permanent barrier wall has been installed in Critical Areas 1 and 2. This progress point is currently projected between this coming December and March next year.

Hendrix said if a decision is made between December 2010 and March 2011 to raise the lake level, spring rains should allow a higher level to be attained by the 2011 vacation season. Nobody has said how much the lake could be raised ahead of the December 2012 completion date but there has been speculation of a 10-foot rise in summer 2011 if sections of the permanent barrier wall are installed and effective in the two critical areas.

Treviicos Soletanche JV, the general contractor, is currently installing test sections of the concrete barrier wall in Technique Areas 1 and 2. Technique areas are test areas for the planned barrier wall. This is the largest project of its type ever undertaken by Treviicos Soletanche JV and test areas are to confirm what Corps engineers are confident will be a permanent fix for Wolf Creek Dam.

When construction methods are proven safe and effective, the general contractor will be allowed to move into Critical Areas 1 and 2 and proceed with full-scale production. Critical areas in the earthen section of the dam are places where grouting has been ineffective and drilling at one point caused material movement inside the dam.

The material movement triggered a warning downstream but Corps officials initially told the media the warning resulted from instrument malfunction. However, a few weeks after the incident, Lt. Col. Bernard R. Lindstrom, commander of the Corps’ Nashville District, during a visit to Somerset, told a group of local marina operators there was material movement in the earthen embankment and he termed the situation “scary.”

Peoples told the Commonwealth Journal this week there has been no further material movement in the dam other than “ ... normal in an earthen dam.”

The public affairs chief emphasized the work is on track. As of late January, the contractor had completed 16 of the 50-inch diameter piles and three secondary panels of the permanent barrier wall to a depth of 275 feet. The wall extends about 100 feet below the base of the dam to a more stable stratum of limestone.

A previous barrier wall, installed during the 1970s, averaged only 25 feet into the bedrock and did not go deep enough to stop seepage through porous limestone. Uncontrolled seepage continued and in August 2005 the Corps revealed that the dam had been classified as in high risk of failure. A major rehabilitation of the mile-long structure was necessary, the Corps said.

Treviicos Soletanche JV, a joint French-Italian firm, was selected to repair the dam, the lake was lowered and the work began.

Current construction activities include:

• Continue installing piles and panels of the concrete barrier wall in Technique Areas 1 and 2.

• Continue drilling and grouting on the right rim and in Critical Area 1. Critical Area 1 is near the junction of the earthen and concrete sections of the dam.

• Continue construction of the access ramp for work platform widening in the wraparound section of the dam.

• Install three inclinometers to monitor subsurface movement on the downstream embankment near the switchyard. An inclinometer is an instrument for measuring angles of slope (or tilt), elevation or inclination of an object with respect to gravity.

• Conduct a scheduled settlement survey along the crest of the dam.

Subcontractor Hayward Baker Inc. is drilling and grouting along the right rim of Halcomb’s Landing and in Critical Area 1 below large cave features. Engineers have told the Commonwealth Journal that some cavities in the dam measured 40 feet. Howard Baker is preparing to begin a low mobility (thick) grouting program to treat vertical faces of a large cave and a cutoff trench in Critical Area 1.

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