Misplaced Pages

#308691

48-723: Edenville Dam was an earthen embankment dam at the confluence of the Tittabawassee River and the Tobacco River in Mid Michigan , United States, forming Wixom Lake . The dam was about one mile (1.6 km) north of Edenville , mostly in the southeast corner of Tobacco Township in Gladwin County , with its southeastern end reaching into Edenville Township in Midland County . Its height

96-517: A 'delegated authority' created by a resolution between Midland and Gladwin counties. On May 26, 2020, the FLTF announced that they were halting the acquisition of the Boyce Hydro properties under the terms and conditions negotiated in 2019, and would seek other private and public sources of funding for the eventual purchase. On December 7, 2020, Four Lakes Task Force was granted a motion to acquire

144-405: A catfish derby. What used to be the shoreline is mostly developed with single-family homes. Many of these homes are located in small neighborhood communities which maintained private boat launch sites, picnic areas, and lake access for non-lakefront property owners. The area of the lake farther north was lined with some wetlands and wilderness areas mixed with housing. There was one small marina on

192-418: A dam and the filling of the reservoir behind it places a new weight on the floor and sides of a valley. The stress of the water increases linearly with its depth. Water also pushes against the upstream face of the dam, a nonrigid structure that under stress behaves semiplastically, and causes greater need for adjustment (flexibility) near the base of the dam than at shallower water levels. Thus the stress level of

240-468: A permit to investigate expanding the hydropower plant with a second powerhouse containing one 1.2 MW turbine-generator unit for a total of 6 MW. The dam's operator said it began to raise the lake's water level in April 2020, under threat of being sued by Michigan's EGLE, and that it reached "normal pond level" in the first week of May 2020. Michigan's Attorney General Dana Nessel confirmed EGLE had directed

288-566: A rarely used legal authority, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) terminated Boyce Hydro Power's license in 2018, because of its "inability to pass the Probable Maximum Flood (PMF)", as well as seven other failures. The Commission was concerned that "the dam may not have the ability to pass enough water, if a severe flood were to hit, among other issues and violations." Following

336-503: A seasonal concession stand. Access was by car for an entry fee or by boat. As of May 2023, the park remained closed for construction. As a reservoir with a predominantly muddy bottom, turbidity was higher than the average natural lake in Michigan. The introduction of Zebra mussels in the 1990s improved water clarity, but led to significant weed growth throughout the shallow portions of the lake. Weed control programs were attempted over

384-434: A simple embankment of well-compacted earth. A homogeneous rolled-earth dam is entirely constructed of one type of material but may contain a drain layer to collect seep water. A zoned-earth dam has distinct parts or zones of dissimilar material, typically a shell of locally plentiful material with a watertight clay core. Modern zoned-earth embankments employ filter and drain zones to collect and remove seep water and preserve

432-404: A small sustained overtopping flow can remove thousands of tons of overburden soil from the mass of the dam within hours. The removal of this mass unbalances the forces that stabilize the dam against its reservoir as the mass of water still impounded behind the dam presses against the lightened mass of the embankment, made lighter by surface erosion. As the mass of the dam erodes, the force exerted by

480-518: A state of emergency, and announced an investigation into the dam's operators for alleged neglect. Over 10,000 local residents were ultimately evacuated, as officials cautioned residents to maintain social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic . The Tittabawassee River crested at 35.05 feet (10.68 m) late on May 20, resulting in extensive flooding throughout eastern Midland and low-lying parts of its downtown district, and severely damaging most of

528-686: A thick suspension of earth, rocks and water. Therefore, safety requirements for the spillway are high, and require it to be capable of containing a maximum flood stage. It is common for its specifications to be written such that it can contain at least a one-hundred-year flood. A number of embankment dam overtopping protection systems were developed in the early 21st century. These techniques include concrete overtopping protection systems, timber cribs , sheet-piles , riprap and gabions , Reinforced Earth , minimum energy loss weirs , embankment overflow stepped spillways , and precast concrete block protection systems. All dams are prone to seepage underneath

SECTION 10

#1732790763309

576-630: Is a large dam on the Indus River in Pakistan , about 50 km (31 mi) northwest of Islamabad . Its height of 485 ft (148 m) above the river bed and 95 sq mi (250 km ) reservoir make it the largest earth-filled dam in the world. The principal element of the project is an embankment 9,000 feet (2,700 m) long with a maximum height of 465 feet (142 m). The dam used approximately 200 million cubic yards (152.8 million cu. meters) of fill, which makes it one of

624-610: The Commission's 2018 license revocation, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) took oversight of the dam. EGLE determined that the dam was structurally sound. Edenville and the other former Boyce dams were taken over in 2019 by the Four Lakes Task Force, a county delegated authority, with title to transfer in early 2022. The State of Michigan appropriated $ 5 million for

672-538: The Four Lakes Task Force, a property owners' group that was established by the Midland and Gladwin County boards of commissioners to oversee the dams and the impoundment lakes created by them, who took over ownership as a condition of the settlement agreement that resulted from the condemnation proceedings with former dam owner, Boyce Hydro, LLC. The main body of the lake stretched for about 6 miles (10 km) north of

720-817: The Michigan Attorney General called a "propaganda" campaign trying to blame the State of Michigan for keeping water levels high, when in fact, Boyce had continually touted the structural safety of the Edenville Dam. On May 19, 2020, 5:46 p.m., due to massive inflow from heavy rains in the area, the eastern side of the dam collapsed, prompting immediate evacuations in the towns of Edenville and Sanford . The Sanford Dam , about 10 miles (16 km) downstream, subsequently overflowed, requiring evacuations in much of Midland six miles (9.7 km) farther downstream. Governor Gretchen Whitmer declared

768-489: The Midland County Road Commission. Embankment dam Embankment dams come in two types: the earth-filled dam (also called an earthen dam or terrain dam ) made of compacted earth, and the rock-filled dam . A cross-section of an embankment dam shows a shape like a bank, or hill. Most have a central section or core composed of an impermeable material to stop water from seeping through

816-462: The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Sanford Lake Sanford Lake was a man-made reservoir located in Midland County, Michigan , but is no longer present since the failure of the dam in May 2020. It was formed by the damming of the Tittabawassee River near the village of Sanford, Michigan . It was built for flood control and the production of hydroelectric power . The dam is owned and operated by

864-637: The asphalt make such dams especially suited to earthquake regions. For the Moglicë Hydro Power Plant in Albania the Norwegian power company Statkraft built an asphalt-core rock-fill dam. Upon completion in 2018 the 320 m long, 150 m high and 460 m wide dam is anticipated to be the world's highest of its kind. A concrete-face rock-fill dam (CFRD) is a rock-fill dam with concrete slabs on its upstream face. This design provides

912-400: The cause. Their final report was issued on 4 May 2022, and determined that the cause was “foreseeable and preventable,” and resulted from multiple errors committed over nearly a century. They reported the dam was improperly designed, and that it was also improperly constructed, resulting in built-in flaws that doomed it from the start. The IFT understands the natural desire to place 'blame' for

960-581: The city of Midland . The dam was built in 1924 by Frank Isaac Wixom, after whom the reservoir formed by the dam is named. Wixom used to own a circus before he built the dam. The dam is privately owned and operated by Boyce Hydro Power, a company based in Edenville, which also owned three other hydroelectric facilities on the Tittabawassee: the Secord, Smallwood, and Sanford Dams. In an exercise of

1008-549: The concrete slab as an impervious wall to prevent leakage and also a structure without concern for uplift pressure. In addition, the CFRD design is flexible for topography, faster to construct and less costly than earth-fill dams. The CFRD concept originated during the California Gold Rush in the 1860s when miners constructed rock-fill timber-face dams for sluice operations . The timber was later replaced by concrete as

SECTION 20

#1732790763309

1056-406: The core is separated using a filter. Filters are specifically graded soil designed to prevent the migration of fine grain soil particles. When suitable building material is at hand, transport is minimized, leading to cost savings during construction. Rock-fill dams are resistant to damage from earthquakes . However, inadequate quality control during construction can lead to poor compaction and sand in

1104-639: The dam failure was the creation of a waterfall downstream of the dam breach along the new river path. At 5-10 feet tall, Edenville Falls was the tallest waterfall in the Lower Peninsula. As part of the dam reconstruction, the Tittabawassee River has been redirected back through the spillway and the old river path, resulting in Edenville Falls drying up. Damage to Midland County bridges and roadways totaled $ 17 million, according to

1152-406: The dam must be calculated in advance of building to ensure that its break level threshold is not exceeded. Overtopping or overflow of an embankment dam beyond its spillway capacity will cause its eventual failure . The erosion of the dam's material by overtopping runoff will remove masses of material whose weight holds the dam in place and against the hydraulic forces acting to move the dam. Even

1200-484: The dam's operator as defendant. Michigan's Attorney General Dana Nessel is also being sued. On September 8, 2023 a state of Michigan court of appeals refused to dismiss the lawsuits, noting a 2020 ruling concerning the state’s liability in the Flint water crisis . The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission appointed an Independent Forensic Team (IFT) of expert engineers to examine the failure and issue an expert opinion on

1248-490: The dam, but embankment dams are prone to seepage through the dam as well; for example, the Usoi landslide dam leaks 35-80 cubic meters per second. Sufficiently fast seepage can dislodge a dam's component particles, which results in faster seepage, which turns into a runaway feedback loop that can destroy the dam in a piping-type failure. Seepage monitoring is therefore an essential safety consideration. gn and Construction in

1296-491: The dam. The core can be of clay, concrete, or asphalt concrete . This type of dam is a good choice for sites with wide valleys. They can be built on hard rock or softer soils. For a rock-fill dam, rock-fill is blasted using explosives to break the rock. Additionally, the rock pieces may need to be crushed into smaller grades to get the right range of size for use in an embankment dam. Earth-fill dams, also called earthen dams, rolled-earth dams or earth dams, are constructed as

1344-551: The dam; since the collapse the water remains deep enough for small boat navigation up past the town of Edenville , 10 miles (16 km) north of the dam. The lake was slightly over half a mile wide at its widest point. A survey by the Michigan DNR measured the main body of the lake at 1,250 acres (5.1 km ). According to the Sanford Lake Improvement Board website maintained by Midland County,

1392-456: The design was applied to irrigation and power schemes. As CFRD designs grew in height during the 1960s, the fill was compacted and the slab's horizontal and vertical joints were replaced with improved vertical joints. In the last few decades, design has become popular. The tallest CFRD in the world is the 233 m-tall (764 ft) Shuibuya Dam in China , completed in 2008. The building of

1440-484: The east shore of the lake (Sanford Lake Marina). Following a period of heavy rain, the Edenville Dam 11 miles (18 km) upstream overtopped and failed on May 19, 2020. The breach of the Edenville Dam in two areas of the levee caused more water to be released into the Tittabawassee River which feeds into Sanford Lake. The floodwaters quickly overran Sanford Dam, washing out its fuse plug and escaping around

1488-578: The embankment which can lead to liquefaction of the rock-fill during an earthquake. Liquefaction potential can be reduced by keeping susceptible material from being saturated, and by providing adequate compaction during construction. An example of a rock-fill dam is New Melones Dam in California or the Fierza Dam in Albania . A core that is growing in popularity is asphalt concrete . The majority of such dams are built with rock and/or gravel as

Edenville Dam - Misplaced Pages Continue

1536-484: The failure. During multiple inspections of the dam, and analyses of the current structural integrity of the dam, over a period spanning more than 90 years, these two major flaws were not reported. Both could have been fixed. A $ 4.8 billion infrastructure plan was approved by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in March 2022. A portion of the approved funds are to be used to repair the dam. A somewhat unexpected side effect of

1584-509: The failure. However, the IFT found that the failure cannot reasonably be attributed to any one individual, group, or organization. Instead, it was the overall system for financing, designing, constructing, operating, evaluating, and upgrading the four dams, involving many parties during the nearly 100 years of project history, which fell short in ensuring a safe dam at the Edenville site. The IFT found that neither internal erosion nor overtopping caused

1632-508: The failure. Instead the IFT believes loose sands, inside a portion of the dam, became saturated with water, which led to their static liquefaction which is a sudden loss of strength. The use of sand in the original construction was a significant deviation from the construction specifications in the original plans. The part of the embankment that failed was constructed with steep slopes on the downstream side. These steep slopes violated safety requirements that were in place for many years prior to

1680-453: The integrity of the downstream shell zone. An outdated method of zoned earth dam construction used a hydraulic fill to produce a watertight core. Rolled-earth dams may also employ a watertight facing or core in the manner of a rock-fill dam. The frozen-core dam is a temporary earth dam occasionally used in high latitudes by circulating a coolant through pipes inside the dam to maintain a watertight region of permafrost within it. Tarbela Dam

1728-421: The lake and many private community access points. Before 2020, pontoon boats, personal watercraft, sport fishermen, and swimmers used the lake in the summer. Sanford Lake Park is located on the west side of the former lake near the dam. This park, maintained by Midland County, had boat ramps, a sandy beach area with volleyball and swimming, pull-up parking for boats and jet-skis, picnic pavilions, playgrounds, and

1776-505: The lake has a surface area of 1,499 acres (6.07 km ) and a shoreline length of 34.5 miles (55.5 km). In May 2020, the Sanford Dam, as well as the Edenville Dam to the north, failed following rain and neglect of the dams. This resulted in the flooding of Sanford , Midland , Saginaw , and other surrounding areas. Sanford Lake was a recreation spot for the county and surrounding counties. There were two public access points to

1824-449: The largest man-made structures in the world. Because earthen dams can be constructed from local materials, they can be cost-effective in regions where the cost of producing or bringing in concrete would be prohibitive. Rock -fill dams are embankments of compacted free-draining granular earth with an impervious zone. The earth used often contains a high percentage of large particles, hence the term "rock-fill". The impervious zone may be on

1872-449: The operator to raise the water level, stating: "Michigan EGLE directed Boyce to follow the court-ordered lake level requirements," but challenged that the operator had lowered it for safety reasons. In April 2020, EGLE sued Boyce, alleging it had lowered the water level without permission in 2018 and 2019, killing thousands of freshwater mussels. In October 2022, however, a federal judge accepted as basic facts that Boyce had conducted what

1920-424: The primary fill. Almost 100 dams of this design have now been built worldwide since the first such dam was completed in 1962. All asphalt-concrete core dams built so far have an excellent performance record. The type of asphalt used is a viscoelastic - plastic material that can adjust to the movements and deformations imposed on the embankment as a whole, and to settlement of the foundation. The flexible properties of

1968-494: The purchase. The Four Lakes Task Force operates under the Four Lakes Assessment District in the State of Michigan, created in May 2019 by Judge Stephen Carras. In 2019, Michigan's 42nd Circuit Court was involved in determining if only the lakefront owners or all area residents would pay tax to the Four Lakes Assessment District. In October 2018, and again in mid-November 2019, the dam's operator lowered

Edenville Dam - Misplaced Pages Continue

2016-501: The reservoir begins to move the entire structure. The embankment, having almost no elastic strength, would begin to break into separate pieces, allowing the impounded reservoir water to flow between them, eroding and removing even more material as it passes through. In the final stages of failure, the remaining pieces of the embankment would offer almost no resistance to the flow of the water and continue to fracture into smaller and smaller sections of earth or rock until they disintegrate into

2064-404: The sides of the dam, eventually leading to the failure of the dam. Sanford Dam was built in 1925 and had received a "fair" condition rating by the state. The 1924 Edenville Dam had received a "poor" rating, though it had been deemed worthy of another hydroelectric generator by the state. At the time of the failure, both dams were in the process of being sold to the Four Lakes Task Force (FLTF),

2112-404: The upstream face and made of masonry , concrete , plastic membrane, steel sheet piles, timber or other material. The impervious zone may also be inside the embankment, in which case it is referred to as a "core". In the instances where clay is used as the impervious material, the dam is referred to as a "composite" dam. To prevent internal erosion of clay into the rock fill due to seepage forces,

2160-457: The village of Sanford. The extent of the floodwaters could be clearly seen in satellite imagery on May 22. Dow Chemical 's Midland operations were threatened by the flooding, but reportedly suffered no serious damage. As of the morning of May 20, no casualties had been reported as a result of the flooding. In the wake of the flooding, three class-action lawsuits were filed by the victims, of which two named Michigan's EGLE as defendant and two named

2208-512: The water level, in what it called a safety move. It said it had requested a permit to lower the level from Michigan's EGLE, a permit that was not issued. The operator said it acted “due to concern for the safety of its operators and the downstream community,” and went on to sue EGLE in federal court, alleging "its safety concerns were paramount." In December 2019, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued

2256-485: The years with varying degrees of success. Sanford Lake had a range of Michigan species: bluegill , rock bass , perch , calicos, northern pike , crappie , catfish , walleye , smallmouth bass , largemouth bass , musky , suckers , and carp . The DNR stocked 65,000 walleye off the Sanford Lake Marina ramp in the spring of 2006. Several bass fishing competitions took place during the year, as well as

2304-542: Was 54 feet (16 m), the length was 6,600 feet (2,000 m) at its crest. The dam was built in 1924 for hydroelectric power and flood control. The dam was equipped with two 2.4 MW turbines capable of generating 4.8 MW of electricity in total. In May 2020, following heavy rains, the Edenville Dam breached and the Sanford Dam downstream overflowed, which caused major flooding in Midland County, including

#308691