BLUESTONE DAM SAFETY ASSURANCE PROJECT

It probably won’t fail(as far as you know)

Bluestone Dam showing dam face, stilling basin and penstocks

History Dam was built between 1941 and 1949 It’s purpose was and is to control flooding

in the New and Kanawha River Valleys It is constructed of a series of concrete

monoliths standing side by side and interlocked across the valley

Monoliths were not anchored into the bedrock

Statistics 2048 feet long 55 interlocked concrete monoliths 165 feet high from the river bed 200 feet wide at the base

Pouring Concrete

View across the downstream face showing interlocking monoliths

Current Problems Recent calculations have shown that the

possibility exists for the dam to fail based on the monoliths sliding on the bedrock and

The possibility of erosion/scour undermining the front of the dam and

Overtopping is also a threat which would contribute to scouring

A series of projects are currently underway to both stabilize the dam and increase the amount of flood water it can hold

Upstream or back side of dam

Potential for Harm Catastrophic flooding from the dam in

southeastern WV to the Ohio River West Virginia State Capitol building would

be flooded to third floor. Chemicals from large scale industry

would be spread down the valley Hundreds of thousands of residents would

be affected

Remediation Program 216 high strength anchors were added to

critical monoliths The dam will be raised 8 feet by installing a

precast concrete wall on top of the existing structure and an additional monolith on the East side in conjunction with

A swing gate closure across route 20 on the West side of the dam

Installation of sacrificial bulkheads on the penstocks

Anchor Installation

Remediation Program Installation of scour protection and

training walls for the penstocks Installation of high strength anchors over

the stilling basis Improvements to the spillway

Completed high strength anchor

Current Status Dam is exponentially safer than this time

last year Project is 11years into a 20 -25 year

project In the event that danger level is neared,

flood causing amounts will be released During the current rain events, Bluestone

Dam is the only flood control dam not increasing it’s capacity

Questions?Lisa R. Morgan, PMP

Project ManagerU.S. Army Corps of Engineers

502 Eighth StreetHuntington, WV 25701

304-399-5545Lisa.r.morgan@usace.army.mil