Spillway is installed and concrete is being poured around the base and inside for ballast. Now it can cure and we can start water through it tomorrow. Then the temporary pipe can be removed and the second half of the dam core can be built. There is light at the end of the tunnel now.
jtd, I'll show my ignorance [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img], what purpose do all these pipes serve? The extent of my is that the earth holds the water back. [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img]
MikePA
There are a couple of ways the water can escape when the pond gets full. Either over a runaround over the dam or through a pipe through the dam. The first method is more common on runoff ponds and those filled by wells, etc. For a pond like ours with a good stream flow even in a drought its better to use a riser-spillway with a buried pipe at the lowest level through the dam. In wet years and hurricane season, this pipe will have a lot of water flowing through it. We'd have to have a concrete runaround all the way to the bottom of the dam's downstream side to handle that much water. I'm not certain that DHEC would even let me build a dam without a pipe given the wet season flow. Basically we have a 14 to 16 foot high spillway riser connected to 100 ft of 4 ft diameter outflow pipe through the center of the dam. We will also have an overflow runaround to protect against very heavy short term flow or if the spillway gets blocked (logs, beavers, etc). If you'ld like more information on dam construction, a search on the net will pull up lots more. This is my first and it's been an education. I've asked lots more newbie questions myself.
They say they'll work out of state but I don't know if they'll go that far. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] Sounds like a big job in Boston. I heard that a recent state or county study found that up to 80% of the pond dams in our county need repair and /or possibly could be condemmed. No action by DHEC yet. It'll be interesting to see how many are blown out when the next big hurricane hits. I think these guys will be busy here for awhile but they are trying to grow their business. I definently would recommend them for all small/medium scale earthworks. My dam probably is small to medium for landowners.
The job's complete now. Here's a photo this week after we put the first few boards in the spillway. Hope it won't take too long to fill the pond. Good rain yesterday so I'll go look today.
It looks like your dam "repair" turned out nice ... as you know, building a dam is not just pushing up some earth across a stream of water. Many years ago, a friend of mine was apart of the study of the failure of a large failed dam in the west. Later he was ask to testify to Congress when Congress was deciding on a study of all Dams in the US over a certain height to check them for safety ... read this as breaking .. he was an interesting guy to talk to ... I was hoping I could get the Feds to help me get rid of the Beavers on my place ... no such luck ... they are still there and I'm sure they will out last me ...
Now that is ONE HECK OF A PLACE you got there. Wow! I just can't get over the work that was performed and talk about awesome pics and play by play. Dang! As always let's see more keep the pics coming.
I sure have enjoyed your dam project and especially because I didn't have to pay for it. [img]/forums/images/icons/smirk.gif[/img] Seriously, thank-you for sharing all of the photos and a small education on dam building. Please keep the photos coming as the water level rises and you replant the area. Looks like you found yourself a beautiful place.
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