When it comes to commercial construction projects, dam building is one of the most crucial tasks that ensures the success and safety of the entire project. Dams play an essential role in managing water resources, generating power, preventing floods, and supporting agriculture through irrigation. With the significance of these structures, it is vital to have professionals handle dam building. Let’s explore why professional dam building is so vital for commercial projects and how it impacts industries around the world.
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Dams help manage water resources effectively, which is especially important for commercial industries that rely on a steady water supply. By controlling the flow of rivers and streams, dams can create reservoirs that store water for use during dry periods. This ensures businesses such as agriculture, manufacturing, and energy production have access to water when they need it the most.
Professional dam builders understand the importance of creating solid and durable dams that can stand the test of time. Using suitable materials, design, and construction techniques, they can ensure the reservoir retains water without causing leaks or structural failures. Dams built by experts can prevent water wastage and ensure that water is available during critical times.
One of the most common reasons for building dams is to generate electricity. Hydroelectric dams use the force of flowing water to turn turbines, which produce power. This renewable energy source is vital for industries that need a reliable power supply.
Professional dam builders know how to design and construct dams that efficiently harness water’s power. The structure must be able to handle the water pressure, gravity forces, and the height of the dam to ensure it operates safely. Using materials such as concrete or masonry, engineers can create dams that generate power while maintaining the safety of nearby areas.
Dams are often built to control flooding, especially in areas where rivers and streams overflow during heavy rainfall. Flooding can damage infrastructure, homes, and businesses, causing significant financial losses. Professional dam building ensures that dams are designed to handle large volumes of water and divert it safely downstream.
The type of dam built depends on the region’s needs. Gravity dams are designed to withstand the weight of water pressing against them, while arch dams use the natural strength of curved structures to distribute water pressure. Both types of dams require professional expertise to ensure they are effective at flood control and remain stable even during extreme weather events.
While dams significantly impact water management and flood control, they also have a substantial effect on the environment. Poorly designed or constructed dams can disrupt ecosystems, harm wildlife, and change natural water flows, leading to issues downstream. Professional dam builders take these environmental concerns into account during the design and construction phases.
Engineers and environmental experts collaborate to minimise the dam’s environmental footprint while maximizing its benefits. This might include designing a spillway to safely manage excess water or building fish ladders to allow aquatic wildlife to pass through the dam. By considering these factors, professional dam building ensures that the dam serves its purpose without harming the surrounding environment.
Building a dam is not just about stacking materials and pouring concrete; it involves complex engineering processes that require specialised knowledge and experience. From the height and size of the dam to the type of foundation and spillway needed, professional dam builders must account for numerous technical factors.
Dams, such as gravity, arch, and buttress dams, require specific construction methods and materials. Engineers carefully analyse the soil, rock, and riverbeds to ensure the foundation can support the dam’s weight and pressure. Without professional oversight, there is a higher risk of structural failure, which can lead to catastrophic consequences such as dam breaches or collapses.
Safety is a top priority in dam construction. A well-built dam must be strong enough to hold back massive amounts of water while protecting the communities and industries located downstream. Any structural weakness in a dam could lead to a breach, flooding the area and causing destruction.
Professional dam builders follow strict safety standards and regulations during the construction process. These standards ensure that dams are built to withstand natural disasters like earthquakes or extreme weather conditions. In addition, professional engineers regularly inspect dams to ensure their continued safety and functionality.
Commercial projects require structures that can last for decades, and dams are no exception. Once built, dams need regular maintenance to ensure they continue functioning as designed. Professional dam builders understand the importance of using high-quality materials like concrete, rock, and masonry to create long-lasting dams.
They also design dams with ease of maintenance in mind. Spillways, for instance, help manage excess water during storms, while the design of the dam’s face and structure can prevent erosion over time. Routine inspections and maintenance work ensure that the dam remains safe, operational, and cost-effective for years to come.
Not all dams are built the same. Commercial projects have different needs, depending on the location, water source, and purpose of the dam. Professional dam builders offer tailored solutions to meet the specific requirements of each project.
For example, in regions with limited space, an arch dam may be the best choice, as its curved design uses natural forces to hold back water. In areas with soft soil, embankment dams made of earth and rock might be more appropriate. Whatever the project, professional dam builders ensure that the design, materials, and construction techniques match the site’s unique conditions.
At Big Ditch, we specialise in professional dam building for commercial projects. Our expert engineers design and construct dams that prioritise safety, efficiency, and longevity.
Whether it’s managing water resources, generating power, or controlling floods, we tailor each dam to meet your project’s unique needs.
Contact us today to discuss how we can help your next project succeed!
Water is one of our most precious resources; our lives depend on it. Throughout the history of humankind, people have built dams to maximize use of this vital resource.
Dams provide a life-sustaining resource to people in all regions of the United States. They are an extremely important part of this nation’s infrastructure—equal in importance to bridges, roads, airports, and other major elements of the infrastructure. They can serve several functions at once, including water supply for domestic, agricultural, industrial, and community use; flood control; recreation; and clean, renewable energy through hydropower.
As populations have grown and moved to arid or flood-prone locations, the need for dams has increased.
Renewable, clean energy: According to the U.S. Department of Energy, in , hydropower accounted for more than 7% of U.S. electricity generation and nearly 37% of U.S. renewable electricity generation.
Flood control: Dams built with the assistance of the Natural Resources Conservation Service provide an estimated $1.7 billion in annual benefits in reduced flooding and erosion damage, recreation, water supplies, and wildlife habitat. Dams owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority produce electricity and prevent an average of about $280 million in flood damage each year.
Water storage: Dams create reservoirs that supply water for a multitude of uses, including fire control, irrigation, recreation, domestic and industrial water supply, and more.
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Irrigation: Ten percent of American cropland is irrigated using water stored behind dams.
Navigation: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers navigation projects in the U.S. serve 41 states, maintain 12,000 miles of channels, carry 15% of U.S. freight carried by inland waterways, operate 275 locks, and maintain 926 harbors.
Recreation: Dams provide prime recreational facilities throughout the U.S. Ten percent of the U.S. population visits at least one U.S. Army Corps of Engineers facility each year.
The purpose of a dam is to impound (store) water, wastewater or liquid borne materials for any of several reasons, such as flood control, human water supply, irrigation, livestock water supply, energy generation, containment of mine tailings, recreation, or pollution control. Many dams fulfill a combination of the above functions.
Manmade dams may be classified according to the type of construction material used, the methods used in construction, the slope or cross-section of the dam, the way the dam resists the forces of the water pressure behind it, the means used for controlling seepage and, occasionally, according to the purpose of the dam.
The materials used for construction of dams include earth, rock, tailings from mining or milling, concrete, masonry, steel, timber, miscellaneous materials (such as plastic or rubber) and any combination of these materials.
Embankment Dams: Embankment dams are the most common type of dam in use today. Materials used for embankment dams include natural soil or rock, or waste materials obtained from mining or milling operations. An embankment dam is termed an “earthfill” or “rockfill” dam depending on whether it is comprised of compacted earth or mostly compacted or dumped rock. The ability of an embankment dam to resist the reservoir water pressure is primarily a result of the mass weight, type and strength of the materials from which the dam is made.
Concrete Dams: Concrete dams may be categorized according to the designs used to resist the stress due to reservoir water pressure. Three common types of concrete dams are: gravity, buttress and arch.
Gravity: Concrete gravity dams are the most common form of concrete dam. The mass weight of concrete and friction resist the reservoir water pressure. Gravity dams are constructed of vertical blocks of concrete with flexible seals in the joints between the blocks.
Buttress: A buttress dam is a specific type of gravity dam in which the large mass of concrete is reduced, and the forces are diverted to the dam foundation through vertical or sloping buttresses.
Arch: Concrete arch dams are typically rather thin in cross-section. The reservoir water forces acting on an arch dam are carried laterally into the abutments.The shape of the arch may resemble a segment of a circle or an ellipse, and the arch may be curved in the vertical plane as well. Such dams are usually constructed of a series of thin vertical blocks that are keyed together; barriers to stop water from flowing are provided between blocks. Variations of arch dams include multi-arch dams in which more than one curved section is used, and arch-gravity dams which combine some features of the two types of dams.
Because the purpose of a dam is to retain water effectively and safely, the water retention ability of a dam is of prime importance. Water may pass from the reservoir to the downstream side of a dam by any of the following:
Overtopping of an embankment dam is very undesirable because the embankment materials may be eroded away (See Video Example). Additionally, only a small number of concrete dams have been designed to be overtopped. Water normally passes through the main spillway or outlet works; it should pass over an auxiliary spillway only during periods of high reservoir levels and high water inflow. All embankment and most concrete dams have some seepage. However, it is important to control the seepage to prevent internal erosion and instability. Proper dam construction, and maintenance and monitoring of seepage provide this control.
Intentional release of water is confined to water releases through outlet works and spillways. A dam typically has a principal or mechanical spillway and a drawdown facility. Additionally, some dams are equipped with auxiliary spillways to manage extreme floods.
Outlet Works: In addition to spillways that ensure that the reservoir does not overtop the dam, outlet works may be provided so that water can be drawn continuously, or as needed, from the reservoir. They also provide a way to draw down the reservoir for repair or safety concerns. Water withdrawn may be discharged into the river below the dam, run through generators to provide hydroelectric power, or used for irrigation. Dam outlets usually consist of pipes, box culverts or tunnels with intake inverts near minimum reservoir level. Such outlets are provided with gates or valves to regulate the flow rate.
Spillways: The most common type of spillway is an ungated concrete chute. This chute may be located over the dam or through the abutment. To permit maximum use of storage volume, movable gates are sometimes installed above the crest to control discharge. Many smaller dams have a pipe and riser spillway, used to carry most flows, and a vegetated earth or rockcut spillway through an abutment to carry infrequent high flood flows. In dams such as those on the Mississippi River, flood discharges are of such magnitude that the spillway occupies the entire width of the dam and the overall structure appears as a succession of vertical piers supporting movable gates. High arch-type dams in rock canyons usually have downstream faces too steep for an overflow spillway. In Hoover Dam on the Colorado River, for example, a shaft spillway is used. In shaft spillways, a vertical shaft upstream from the dam drains water from the reservoir when the water level becomes high enough to enter the shaft or riser; the vertical shaft connects to a horizontal conduit through the dam or abutment into the river below.
The National Inventory of Dams (NID) has catalogued the more than 90,000 dams on America's waterways according to their hazard classification. Hazard classification is determined by the extent of damage a failure would cause downstream, with high-hazard potential dams resulting in loss of life and significant-hazard potential indicating a failure would not necessarily cause a loss of life, but could result in significant economic losses. As you can see on this map from the NID, there are numerous dams across America and ensuring their safety is a critical goal.
Safety is key to the effectiveness of a dam. Dam failures can be devastating for the dam owners, to the dam’s intended purpose and, especially, for downstream populations and property. Property damage can range in the thousands to billions of dollars. No price can be put on the lives that have been lost and could be lost in the future due to dam failure. Failures know no state boundaries—inundation from a dam failure could affect several states and large populations.
Early in this century, as many dams failed due to lack of proper engineering and maintenance, it was recognized that some form of regulation was needed. One of the earliest state programs was enacted in California in the s. Federal agencies, such as the Corps of Engineers and the Department of Interior, Bureau of Reclamation built many dams during the early part of the twentieth century and established safety standards during this time. Slowly, other states began regulatory programs. But it was not until the string of significant dam failures in the s that awareness was raised to a new level among the states and the federal government.
Today, every state except Alabama has a dam safety regulatory program. State governments have regulatory responsibility for 70% of the approximately 90,000 dams within the National Inventory of Dams. These programs vary in authority but, typically, the program activities include:
There are several federal government agencies involved with dam safety. Together, these federal agencies are responsible for five percent of the dams in the U.S. They construct, own and operate, regulate or provide technical assistance and research for dams. Included in this list are the Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Interior, Labor and State (International Boundary and Water Commission), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Tennessee Valley Authority. The Federal Emergency Management Agency administers the National Dam Safety Program, a program established by law in to coordinate the federal effort through the Interagency Committee on Dam Safety, to assist state dam safety programs through financial grants, and to provide research funding and coordination of technology transfer.
Federal agency representatives make up about 16% of the ASDSO membership. About 14% of dams in the USA are owned or regulated by federal agencies.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), part of the Department of Homeland Security, does not own or regulate dams itself but administers the National Dam Safety Program, which coordinates all federal dam safety programs and assists states in improving their dam safety regulatory programs. The Office of Infrastructure Protection, also within the Department of Homeland Security, leads a coordinated national program to reduce risks to the nation's critical infrastructure, including dams, posed by acts of terrorism.
Federal agencies involved with dam safety, either as owners and/or regulators, include the following:
Together the agencies listed above make up the Interagency Committee on Dam Safety (ICODS), overseen by FEMA as head of the National Dam Safety Program.
Other federal agencies that stay involved with ASDSO and the dam safety community are the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA), National Weather Service and the U.S. Geological Survey.
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