The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,<\/a> which operates the dam, dug out the depressions, installed monitoring equipment and conducted tests while water was held at the traditional summer conservation pool elevation.<\/p>\nNothing they found restored their confidence in the dam\u2019s holding capacity. So last summer the corps hired two contractors to work on projects aimed at improving the integrity of the abutment in time for the start of the flood season on Nov. 1.<\/p>\n
An $8.9 million contract went to Nicholson Construction for construction of a seepage barrier, a 450-foot-long, 90-to-160 foot-deep \u201cgrout curtain\u201d in the right abutment. Final testing was done earlier this month, giving the corps reason to say a flood now only has the 1 in 25 chance of occurring.<\/p>\n
Previously, the estimate of a flood was 1 in 4.<\/p>\n
The grout curtain slows the water but does not stop it.<\/p>\n
Corps spokeswoman Casondra Brewster likened the grout curtain to something modern \u2013 a Botox injection for the hillside.<\/p>\n
The grout replaces the water, and while some water remains, the water is not moving as fast. The speed of the outflowing water causes a \u201cheartache\u201d for the corps, she said.<\/p>\n
The corps also awarded a contract to install filter drains to help prevent water from undermining the structural integrity of the abutment.<\/p>\n
A more permanent solution in the form of a barrier wall is at least three to five years off.<\/p>\n
The corps has stressed that the dam is not in danger of failing. However, to reduce the stress on the abutment or support, it can\u2019t fully fill the reservoir behind the dam.<\/p>\n
The corps makes the point it has never lost a dam.<\/p>\n
However, also hanging over the corps \u2013 and the Green River Valley \u2013 is Katrina, the hurricane that devastated New Orleans. The corps was criticized for how well it had protected the city against a massive hurricane.<\/p>\n
Katrina\u2019s sword is sharp.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Sword of Damocles is hanging over the Green River Valley.
\nThank the Greeks for this image, which, generally speaking, refers to a sense of foreboding that\u2019s present in any precarious situation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":756,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=755"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}