WSMV Channel 4 Corps: Work on Wolf Creek dam 'on schedule'

Corps: Work on Wolf Creek dam 'on schedule'

Federal officials say repair work on a massive south-central Kentucky dam is "on schedule" to be completed by the end of next year.

David Hendrix, who is the repair project manager for the U.S. Corps of Engineers in Nashville, told the Commonwealth Journal that work on Wolf Creek Dam "is on schedule ... maybe a little ahead of schedule." (http://bit.ly/xqJ025)

The nearly mile-long structure impounds Lake Cumberland, the largest man-made reservoir east of the Mississippi River. The lake's water level has remained about 40 feet below typical summer depths since January 2007, when the $584 million repair project began.

Officials have kept the lower water level to facilitate repair work and ease pressure on the seeping structure.

If Wolf Creek Dam fails, it could flood towns and cities down the Cumberland River in Kentucky and Tennessee, reaching downtown Nashville.

Hendrix said the project was 70% complete at the end of January.

He said crews were ready to begin pumping grout into underground cavities along the foundation of the dam near where the concrete and earthen sections meet. The area originally would not accept grout and caused some delays in the project.

Barring an unforeseen problem, Hendrix said crews should complete the work by December 2013 or soon thereafter - in enough time for spring rains in 2014 to fill the lake before the summer vacation season.

"It is our intent to return Lake Cumberland to normal operation by summer 2014," Hendrix said.

Wolf Creek Dam has seeped since 1950, when its gates were closed. In the 1960s, a near catastrophe occurred when two large sinkholes developed at the dam's base and muddy water was seen in the tailrace. Extensive grouting was done at the time to stabilize the dam and a barrier wall was added in the 1970s.

The wall wasn't deep enough or long enough and in 2005 the Corps of Engineers declared the dam at high risk of failure.

The corps says the current work will permanently repair the dam.

Information from: Commonwealth Journal, http://www.somerset-kentucky.com

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