Dam safety designs
Ronaldo Castanaga
20 Oct 2009
Re: FVR: Arroyo gov’t also accountable
Read on Mr. Jose Ceralde, FVR is fuming mad at the negligence and irresponsibility of PGMA and so with the erroneous claimed by ignorant Gov Espino and his minions blaming SRMDP key personnel for the untold death and destruction caused by the massive flood as a result of the unwarranted released of water from the dam.
There was already funding allocated to build life-saving dikes (lives), floodgates and diversion channels incorporated in the master plan of SRMDP for flood control downstream of the dam (from San Manuel to as far as Bayambang) to tame the raging water in case a killer flood is going to occur.
Dumbfounded, FVR couldn’t believe it, PGMA shanghaied this funding for something else (perhaps to her many useless junkets and worldwide conferences).
FVR is a graduate civil engineer from West Point and no doubt he knows what a dam’s safety is all about. That it’s not all about water releases, but about maintaining the level of water at the highest crest (to keep the dam below the designed yield point) via spillway discharges.
The same condition as the Hoover Dam near Las Vegas, it could spill anytime at its highest crest and the water will just flow downstream unrestricted to Lake Mead with no cause for alarm.
I read quite a number of taskforce committee reports on dam design, construction and operation, journals and publications on dam designs and safety from the Society of US Civil Engineers and the US Army Corps of Engineers and I found out two types of spilling conditions: uncontrolled and controlled (low flow and maximum flow, not calibrated flow in deference to Sen. Loren’s questioning at the Senate hearing).
I live near Lake Waurika, Oklahoma, maintained by the US Army Corps of Engineers. It has controlled outlets to maintain the level of water. It also has 2 vertical relief shafts (conduits) acting like a spillway to release water in the auto mode for emergency. The same concept as the opening hole below the rim of a household sink. The entire water of Lake Waurika is impounded by a humongous earthen dam with the top section engineered as part of a rural highway.
I also found out that the resident licensed hydraulic engineer determines the operating height or level of water of the dam. Being the most knowledgeable and experienced regarding dam operation, he also prepares the protocol (SOP) for dam safety and operation when requested by requiring authorities signed by the Director of Napocor.
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