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Broken dam!!

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    #46
    Looks nice. Did you put in a spillway?


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      #47
      When I built mine I put in a 15 inch steel pipe in the bottom of the lake and ran the other end into a creek with a valve to control the depth of mine. I usually keep it about 2 ft from the top of levy. Lake is about 12ft deep. I put in 3400 hybrid catfish in last year with lots of minnows and perch. I’ve got an electric well that pumps about 1500gpm into lake.

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        #48
        Originally posted by bobc View Post
        Looks nice. Did you put in a spillway?


        Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
        It already had a spillway and an emergency spillway, one on each end of the dam. They did make the spillway twice as wide this time around.

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          #49
          Originally posted by switchbackxt View Post
          Back together. Waiting for it to fill and then restock the fish.
          Good luck with it, hope it fills up and you get those fish stocked back.

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            #50
            Originally posted by switchbackxt View Post
            It already had a spillway and an emergency spillway, one on each end of the dam. They did make the spillway twice as wide this time around.
            Did they make those at a lowered elevation compared to before or same height as before? Widening will definitely help but they should have been lowered a bit so they start emptying sooner instead of the crest lapping at the dam top for so long

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              #51
              Looks good!


              Disclaimer: Not saying this next statement applies to you and your situation.
              Most people vastly underestimate the quantity of water a large rain event can produce. Engineers get a bad rap for always over designing things because they can be costly to build but don't get a note in the mail when they hold up in severe conditions. Few years ago a doctor out of Houston asked that I look at an outfall structure of his 35 acre pond as it was experiencing erosion issues. He about had a heart attack when I told him what it would take to protect that outfall for a 100-year type event. The pond had a large drainage area that came to it and whomever built it originally did not set it up for success. He only ended up taking part of our advice. I wish I could go out there today and see how it's held up given some of the big rains of late.


              Kong...sounds like you've got it figured out!! Spilling knowledge and experience...
              Originally posted by Kong View Post
              We had equipment sitting beside a 16 acre lake waiting for it to dry up enough to fix their spillway problem he had been putting off for years. The dam failed on Saturday and he lost the entire lake and all the fish he had spent 16 years growing and adding to his overall expense tens of thousands of dollars to get it back where it was. The poor guy was in tears and I offered to do some extra work for free on the inflow side removing silt trying to help him out. He’s come to terms with it today and we’re going to add a lot of structure in it making it an even better fishing lake for his family so the best thing I can say in your situation is to turn a negative into a positive by taking the time to do it right this time and making it better than it was.

              We’ve repaired and built hundreds of lakes over the years and the number one problem is the dam height compared to the spillway construction and the over site of lake builders not knowing or at least having the understanding of a worst case scenario of in flow.

              I’m sure you have a grasp on it now but if you have any questions I’d be happy to offer any advice on it so feel free to pm me with any questions. Repairing a dam is as much art as it is anything else so if they just start packing it with clay your going to be in trouble again, their is a process to it so find someone that’s dealt with it a lot.

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                #52
                Following

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                  #53
                  Originally posted by switchbackxt View Post
                  The spillway was/is at the end of the dam and there was an emergency spillway at the other end as well. I do not believe the failure was the fault of the contractor. There were a couple of ponds in the same area that were decades old and they lost their dams as well. One of those being salmon lake Park built in the 60’s. 11 inches of rain in a few hours is going to cause flooding and I didn’t have the funds to build a Hoover type dam. Things happen and we just have to regroup and rebuild.

                  Read about Salmon Lake Parks lake. Use to play bluegrass out there.

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                    #54
                    Kong nailed it, really good advice. Many ponds are built with not enough dam height over water level (free bore) in high rainfall events. Also, should have at minimum a 4:1 slope ratio, any steeper it is easier for erosion to take place. A flatter slope on the dam makes it thicker throughout the dam.

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                      #55
                      Originally posted by .243 WSSM View Post
                      Did they make those at a lowered elevation compared to before or same height as before? Widening will definitely help but they should have been lowered a bit so they start emptying sooner instead of the crest lapping at the dam top for so long
                      Lower and wider

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