Association of State Dam Safety Officials (ASDSO) Gives Recognition to Darrel Temple and Announces Its Annual Awards
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At the 2009 Annual Dam Safety conference, ASDSO recognized Darrel Temple, P.E., D.WRE of the USDA-ARS of Oklahoma, the Terry L. Hampton Medal, for his outstanding achievement in the field of hydrology and hydraulics. ASDSO's Affiliate Member Advisory Committee (AMAC) established the Terry L. Hampton Medal in 2007 to honor its namesake, who chaired the AMAC and to recognize outstanding achievements in the field of hydrology and hydraulics. ASDSO also awarded other individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the field of dam safety and announced its annual Merit Awards. The award winners were recognized on September 29th, at the 2009 ASDSO Awards Banquet, held in Hollywood, Florida.
Darrel Temple, an AAWRE Diplomate since 2005, is recognized as a national and international authority in the hydraulics of vegetated open channels, spillways, and earthen embankments. Mr. Temple has a sustained record of outstanding research productivity and impact, including benchmark work in protection and performance of vegetated open channels, analysis of vegetated earth spillway performance, and embankment dam overtopping. He has authored or co-authored over 100 publications and has participated as a speaker and/or leader in numerous meetings, workshops, and seminars, and conferences.
In over 30 years of service at the USDA Agricultural Research Service Hydraulic Engineering Research Unit in Stillwater, Oklahoma, Mr. Temple expanded the understanding of the interaction of the flow field with the vegetation in grass-lined water conveyance channels and used that understanding to develop improved procedures for grass-lined channel design. The computational approach was placed in the context of a design procedure and documented in a widely distributed USDA Agriculture Handbook along with example application software. He served in a leadership role in the development of the SITES software used by the Natural Resources Conservation Service and others for the design of small earthen dams with vegetated spillways. This involved a major effort of data collection over a 10-year period from large-scale laboratory tests and from field spillways experiencing flood events. Even after his retirement from federal service, he has remained active in the area of dam overtopping. He continues to be a key member of a team of engineers and scientists in the development of a computational model for allowable overtopping.
Mr. Temple was in attendance to receive his Medal and recognition at the ASDSO Awards Ceremony. Mr. Temple accepted his award:
"This is a surprise- I didn't expect this. But, it's an honor to receive this. I would like to thank my wife and family for their support. And thank you to the Awards committees. Thank you again."
The ASDSO also announced its annual Merit Awards:
The National Award of Merit was awarded to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Division of Dam Safety; West Region Award of Merit was awarded to the Ute Water Conservancy District in Grand Junction, Colorado; The Southeast Region Award of Merit went to the Mississippi Soil and Water Conservation Commission in Jackson, Mississippi; the Northeast Region Award of Merit was awarded to Pennsylvania American Water in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania; the Midwest Region Award of Merit was awarded to Ms. Mia Kannik from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources in Columbus, Ohio; Lake Burnt Mills Dam Rehabilitation in Suffolk, Virginia was awarded the 2009 National Rehabilitation Project of the Year; and a Special Recognition Award was given to the National Committee on Levee Safety for their work on Report to Congress on Recommendations for a National Levee Safety Program.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Division of Dam Safety received the 2009 ASDSO National Award of Merit. As one of many federal agencies involved in to dam safety, the FERC is unique in its mission as a regulatory body, a role that mirrors state dam safety programs. The dam safety team at FERC headquarters in Washington DC, led by director Dan Mahoney, and FERC regional offices demonstrate the highest level of excellence in carrying out this national regulatory program.
The FERC has supported the mission and goals of ASDSO since its formation in the 1980s. FERC leadership has always encouraged its dam safety staff and licensees to become active members of ASDSO. Many FERC representatives have served on ASDSO committee and task forces over the years.
The FERC began its dam security program shortly after 9/11. The program, led by Frank Calcagno, serves as a template as the DHS Dams Sector Coordinating Council develops model dam security guidelines. Recently ASDSO and FERC entered into a joint venture, with the Department of Homeland Security, to combine two separate national security conferences into one, held at Dam Safety 2009.
ASDSO's West Region selected Ute Water Conservancy District as its Merit Award winner. Ute Water has provided treated water to more than 80,000 people in western Colorado's Grand Valley for more than 50 years. As owner of eight raw water reservoirs and major water supplier to the Valley, Ute Water strives to proactively maintain its dams to the highest standards; accordingly, it completed several dam safety projects in 2008 and 2009.
In addressing insufficient storage and inadequate spillway capacity at its Jerry Creek reservoir dams, Ute Water worked with RJH Consultants and the State Engineer's Office to develop a unique multi-reservoir routing concept that reduced construction costs. Ute Water also funded a site-specific hydrometeorologic study to reduce the extreme storm precipitation contributing to the IDF storm event, which provided value engineering to the project and helped promote the application of this science in the field of water resources planning and development.
Ute Water reaches out to the community through water education programs. Its 16-year-old Annual Children's Water Festival exposes Grand Valley school district fifth graders to all facets of water–conservation, protection, pollution control, provision, treatment–and the importance of water in the world, the state, the community and their individual lives.
ASDSO's Southeast Region recognized the Mississippi Soil and Water Conservation Commission (MSWCC) for its creation of the Mississippi Watershed Repair and Rehabilitation Cost Share.
Watershed dams constructed with USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) funding and technical assistance are eligible for continued NRCS assistance and funding for rehabilitation and repairs; however, NRCS funds are provided on a cost-share basis, requiring local watershed districts to provide matching funds and to compete for limited funding with projects nationwide. These requirements kept many watershed dams in Mississippi from being repaired and rehabilitated in a timely manner.
The MSWCC worked with the Mississippi State Legislature to create a state program that provides funds for repairing and rehabilitating watershed dams and for matching NRCS funding. The program began in 1998 with an authorization of $5 million. MSWCC worked closely with the NRCS to coordinate the watershed structure rehabilitation and repair efforts.
That funding was depleted in 2008 with the rehabilitation of 197 watershed dams in Mississippi. This year, thanks to MSWCC, the state legislature provided $1 million to continue the program.
ASDSO's Northeast Region selected Pennsylvania American Water (PAW) as its Merit Award winner. PAW owns 64 dams and reservoirs that supply water to more than two-million customers. Twenty-nine of its dams are classified as high hazards. Several were rehabilitated in the 1980s by their former owner. In 1996, when PAW assumed ownership of the dams, it immediately conducted detailed surveys of all, including risk assessments and rehabilitation prioritizations of the high hazard dams.
PAW recognizes the importance of proper dam management in ensuring public safety and is committed to abiding by dam safety regulations administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP). Professional engineers and supporting staff of the company regularly inspect each dam to identify and tend to maintenance needs. Written condition assessments, including maintenance recommendations, are compiled to record inspections and submitted to PADEP. Using this information and engineering studies assessing each high-hazard dam's level of compliance with safety criteria, PAW engineers and PADEP personnel work together to prioritize dam rehabilitation projects.
Another important facet of PAW's dam safety program is the company's commitment to the development and distribution of updated Emergency Action Plans (EAPs). Over the last several years, PAW has identified and mapped flood hazard inundation areas downstream of each of its 29 high-hazard dams. These efforts included hydrologic analyses of approximately 115 sub-watersheds, and flood-wave routings and hazard area mapping of over 375 stream miles. As a result of this significant effort, EAPs for all of PAW's high-hazard dams are current and compliant with PADEP requirements.
The Midwest Regional Award of Merit was presented to Mia P. Kannik, P.E. of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources for her service to the region in promoting and writing technical articles for the "The Journal of Dam Safety." The Journal annually publishes an article from each region and Ms. Kannik has coordinated this effort for the Midwest Region since its inception. Her efforts on this task have resulted in quality technical articles on dam safety topics from the Midwest states including this year's article "Midwest Flooding in 2008: State Dam Safety Officials' Response." Ms. Kannik put in many hours for this article in collecting and editing a summary of the response to this flooding event from each state and writing Ohio's portion and the introduction and summary. This year's article is a good example of the effort put forth by Ms. Kannik to ensure quality articles for the Journal from a Midwest states' perspective.
2009 NATIONAL REHABILITATION PROJECT OF THE YEAR: Lake Burnt Mills Dam Rehabilitation, Suffolk, VA
Lake Burnt Mills Dam, a high hazard, earth embankment dam built in 1942, is one of a series of water supply reservoirs and dams owned and operated by the City of Norfolk. Lake Burnt Mills impounds 10,300 acre-feet of water; it is one of seven reservoirs that supply fresh water to Norfolk and adjacent communities.
Beginning in 2006, the City constructed several remedial measures at Lake Burnt Mills Dam to address several dam safety deficiencies based on hydrologic/hydraulic, geotechnical and structural investigations and analyses. The most urgent deficiencies included the inability to safely pass the Probable Maximum Flood, inadequate safety factor of the intake tower and training walls, severe deterioration of concrete below the waterline, and improper design for the spillway crest.
Remedial measures included spillway and embankment modifications and low-level outlet replacement. The spillway and embankment were modified by extending and raising the existing parapet wall and the ends of the embankment to prevent overtopping; a partial demolition and reconstruction of the existing ogee crest to match the for the high flow expected from the PMF; repair of the spillway channel floor and walls to include filtered seepage collection and drainage interceptor trenches; and replacement of the riprap on the upper channel side slopes to provide suitable erosion protection and repair of the deteriorated concrete. Due to the condition of the low-level outlet, the entire system was replaced. The replacement system included a new intake tower and a micro-tunneled low-level outlet.
The major challenge of this project was to maintain dam safety and allow continued operation of the reservoir during remedial construction. The use of cofferdams at the upstream and downstream ends of the spillway maintained the required high water levels of the dam while construction was underway. Another major challenge of this project was the change of design for the low-level outlet during the design phase. The originally designed siphon low-level outlet was changed due to concerns about safe-yield during times of low reservoir levels. The siphon low-level outlet was replaced by a large diameter micro-tunneled low-level outlet. The micro-tunnel was specified by the City, not the consultant, which placed greater risk on the City, but greatly reduced expenses.
The design and construction of these remedial measures successfully addressed the dam deficiencies and the requirement to maintain the use of the reservoirs and to maintain dam safety during construction.
The ASDSO also gave a Special Recognition to the National Committee on Levee Safety for their work on Report to Congress on Recommendations for a National Levee Safety Program.
The ASDSO Board of Directors unanimously agreed to formally recognize the work this past year of the National Committee on Levee Safety. Mandated by the National Levee Safety Act (Title IX, WRDA 2007) and led by the US Army Corps of Engineers, this team of federal, state and private volunteer committee members created the Report to Congress on Recommendations for a National Levee Safety Program. From October 6, 2008 to January 15, 2009, the team members sacrificed work and private life to develop this 104-page, comprehensive strategic plan for standing up a National Levee Safety Program–a monumental feat in the view of the ASDSO Board. The draft report was endorsed by the ASDSO Board in March 2009.
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