6/26/2020
Some Dam – Hydro News TM
And Other Stuff i
Quote of Note: “The Secret of a happy life is to retain a child's sense of wonder and expectation.” – Unknown
Some Dam - Hydro News Newsletter Archive for Current and Back Issues and Search: (Hold down Ctrl key when clicking on this link) http://npdp.stanford.edu/ . After clicking on link, scroll down under Partners/Newsletters on left, click one of the links (Current issue or View Back Issues).
“Good wine is a necessity of life.” - -Thomas Jefferson Ron’s wine pick of the week: 2017 Maison L'Envoye Pinot Noir "Two Messengers" “No nation was ever drunk when wine was cheap.” - - Thomas Jefferson
Dams: (Quote of the day re the Michigan dam failures.) “I’m appalled at the fact that safety concerns have to go through Fisheries and get vetted by biology rather than by public safety
interests,” McBroom said.
(Get movin’. Wrong dam photo.) Court orders Edenville Dam owner do emergency inspection By Stephanie Parkinson, June 15th 2020, nbc25news.com
A judge in the United States District Court District of Michigan Southern Division has ordered Boyce Hydro, the owner of the Edenville Dam, to complete an emergency inspection of the Edenville Dam. A judge in the United States District Court District of Michigan Southern Division
1 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu
has ordered Boyce Hydro, the owner of the Edenville Dam, to complete an emergency inspection of the Edenville Dam.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel took this matter to court because it has been nearly three weeks since the state ordered Boyce Hydro to do this inspection. Nessel believes the Edenville Dam still poses a significant safety threat. The Edenville Dam failed on May 19. 10,000 people were evacuated and Midland County saw catastrophic flooding. The judge has ordered Boyce Hydro to submit reports for part of this inspection by June 19, and the rest of the work be completed by June 24. An attorney for Sanford Dam Boyce Hydro told Mid Michigan NOW the inspection was done by an engineer on June 10, but the reports had not been completed and sent to the state.
(What shape are the other dams in MI?) Kalamazoo County’s largest dam does not pose a safety threat, officials say By Brian McVicar | mlive.com, Jun 15, 2020
KALAMAZOO, MI — Six miles east of downtown Kalamazoo sits Morrow Dam, the largest dam in the county. Standing 26-feet tall, the hydroelectric power dam’s concrete walls and mechanical equipment serve a dual purpose: generating millions of hours of clean energy and, during periods of intense rain, keeping countless gallons of water from rushing into the Kalamazoo River. In the wake of historic flooding caused by the Edenville Dam failure in mid-Michigan, some residents are no doubt asking: Could the Morrow Dam suffer the same fate during a catastrophic storm?
(Dam removal. Always at least one story. It’s guaranteed that not everybody is waiting for dam removal.) 60-Foot Dam to Be Removed From Cuyahoga River By Rachele Mongiovi, Ohio, Jun. 15, 2020, spectrumnews1.com
CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio — At 60 feet high and 400 feet wide, the Gorge Dam is a site to see. It's situated on the Cuyahoga River in Gorge Metro Park in Cuyahoga Falls. • The Gorge Dam degrades the water quality and provides a horrible habitat for river species • Removal of the dam will speed up the flow of the water, providing recreation for experienced kayakers • Deconstruction of the dam could start in 2023 Constructed in 1913, the dam powered a hydroelectric power plant and provided cooling water for a coal power plant. "When you put a dam on a river you essentially turn a fast, free-flowing river into a segmented, slow water, almost like a lake environment, it's no longer a river," said Dr. John Peck, professor of geosciences, University of Akron.
2 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu
Peck says the Gorge Dam degrades the water quality and provides a horrible habitat for river species. It is now known as the single greatest unresolved water quality problem on the river. "What we found upstream is that once these dams were removed they were a tremendous benefit to the communities, that not only did we improve water quality within a year after the dams had come down, they created wonderful places for people to be and wonderful access to the river where there been none," said Elaine Marsh, watershed specialist, Summit Metro Parks. A regional effort from Summit Metro Parks, the EPA, First Energy and other agencies have been pushing for the dam's removal. Removing the dam will speed up the flow of the water, providing recreation for experienced kayakers. "Once the 60-foot dam comes out, we're going to have access to the entire river, so right now there's a mile and a half of dam lake and when that is removed, somewhere in there is going to be ledges and rapids," said Donald Howdyshell, an experienced kayaker.
Howdyshell has been white water kayaking for five years. The dam currently sits right in the middle of two and a half miles of white water. "I think everybody, from kayakers to hikers, are waiting for that dam to come down, everybody wants to know what's hidden underneath that water because nobody has seen it, nobody alive today knows what it looks like," said Howdyshell. Before the deconstruction of the dam, sediment will need to be removed first. "Behind the Gorge, there's a phenomenal amount of sediment, 900,000 cubic yards and if they didn't, all that material would erode downstream, and it's slightly polluted, it would fertilize the lower Cuyahoga River and we don't want that to happen," said Peck. Once the sediment is removed, the concrete dam will be hammered away and hauled off-site, bringing the Cuyahoga River back to its natural state. "To have white water is really an unusual thing and on a major river like the Cuyahoga, it's really a big deal, so we will be an attraction to paddlers states away," said Marsh. The earliest the deconstruction of the dam could start is 2023.
(Another Cuyahugo River dam removal,) Brecksville dam demolition expected to be completed before July June 19, 2020, .scriptype.com
Contractors began the process of removing the Brecksville Dam from the Cuyahoga River on May 21. Removing the dam will allow the river to flow freely through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park for the first time in over 190 years, improving natural conditions and recreational access. Kokosing Industrial is the contractor performing the work. The National Park Service has collaborated for over a decade with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, United States Army Corps of Engineers, Ohio Department of Natural Resources and Friends of the Crooked River to prepare for the project. The section of the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail near the river will be closed for the duration of the project (through September). However, a parallel section of trail will remain available, so trail use should not be interrupted. \ Trail users should be prepared to stop if contractors need to cross the open section of trail with heavy equipment. The river above and below the dam within the construction area is closed to paddlers and anglers. Paddlers wishing to portage around the dam must use the Towpath Trail on the east side of the river. The railroad tracks are closed to all pedestrians north of the railroad boarding station. Due to the inability to provide enough space for social distancing, the NPS will not establish a public viewing area for this project. It will provide updates on social media and at nps.gov/cuva/learn/dam-removal.htm . The current concrete dam, built in 1951 to provide water to the American Steel and Wire Company, stands eight feet tall and 163 feet across. It is referred to as the Brecksville Dam and/or the Canal Diversion Dam. The construction of the modern dam submerged the remnants of the wooden Pinery Dam, built in 1827 to divert water from the Cuyahoga River into the newly constructed Ohio & Erie Canal. Although no longer needed to cool the steel mills downstream, the Brecksville Dam still feeds the watered section of the Ohio & Erie Canal, part of which is
3 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu
designated a National Historic Landmark. Dams, however, impair fish habitat, alter streamflow and water temperatures and create increased sedimentation of rivers and streams, significantly decreasing water quality. Contractors created an opening in the dam to allow water and sediment to flow and lower the water behind the dam. With lower water levels, cultural resources will be documented before the complete removal of the Brecksville and Pinery dams. The demolition phase of the project is expected to be complete by late June, depending on weather conditions. The second phase of the project will involve the installation of a pump near the east wall of the dam to continue the function of providing a controlled water flow to the canal from the river
(Not having much fun. Not what many retirees envisioned.) Residents living around lake that vanished after dam failure say restoration the only option By STEVE CARMODY • JUN 15, 2020, michiganradio.org
MICHIGAN RADIO - In the weeks since the Edenville Dam failed, and flooded Midland, the focus has been on why it failed. But the people who live upstream from the dam also want to know when, or if, they’ll get their lake back. On a stormy morning last week, Robert Beltz stands on the green manicured lawn behind his beautiful two story home on Wixom Lake. The lawn extends to what used to be the water line. “If you walk down toward the sea wall, and look down here, it looks like a desert,” Beltz said. When the Edenville Dam failed on May 19, water rushed through the breach, draining much of Wixom Lake. The lake is really a reservoir created in the 1920’s after a hydro-electric dam was built at the confluence of the Tittabawassee and Tobacco Rivers. It would take years to restore Wixom Lake. Last week, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer hedged when asked about rebuilding the dam. “I’m inclined to say ‘yes’ but I think there is a lot more information that I need to have to give you the absolute certainty of what next steps look like. But the end goal is, of course, is to restore this community as well as we can to the greatness it was prior to this event,” Whitmer told reporters.
A spokesman for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy says an investigation into the dam failure will determine “where we go with next steps in relation to whether or not to rebuild.” Another option is to allow the rivers to return to their pre-1920 paths. “There’s really no better way to bring a river back to life than removing a dam,” says Brian Graber, the senior director of river restoration for American Rivers, whose mission is to restore damaged rivers. Graber says dams should be evaluated for public safety and ecological issues, as well as economic and recreational benefits. “Rivers are volatile. And with climate change they are even more volatile,” Graber said. “We really need to give rivers the space so that they can flood safely without expecting the infrastructure is going to stop that flooding.” The Edenville Dam long ago went from producing electric power to powering Gladwin County’s economy.
Scott Govitz is the associate vice president of workforce and economic development at Mid- Michigan College. Govitz says tourism dollars and homes on the lake make up a significant part of the county’s sales and property tax base. “We have a county that is so reliant upon tourism and these lakes and streams...that are jewels...that we must repair this and get back on our feet,” Govitz said. “The worst case scenario could be bankruptcies of magnitudes that we haven’t seen before.” County officials are still assessing the economic impact of the dam failure and resulting flood. They are very concerned about the long-term hit of not having Wixom Lake. At this point, it’s unclear how much it would cost to repair or replace the broken dam or who would pay. For Wixom Lake homeowners like Robert Beltz, the suggestion that the dam might not get rebuilt is unthinkable.
“You’d see 10,000 people around this lake, they’d all be out with pitchforks and torches,” Beltz said. “None of them want to see the lake to disappear and I do not see that as an option.”
4 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu
But the new view of Wixom Lake this summer will likely be the same for many years to come, nice homes overlooking mud flats with water trickling through a broken dam.
(Some people like dams.) Letter: Dam is not ‘only’ an icon June 12, seacoastonline.com -- To the Editor:
The lovely, historic dam on the Newmarket Road in Durham is once again threatened. There has been a dam on that site for generations. The original dam was an act of nature; the most recent dam was built over 100 years ago. It powered Durham’s mills. The New Hampshire Dam Bureau was set to make a presentation to the Durham Town Council on Monday night. The Dam Bureau is eager to demolish the dam because it serves no “useful” purpose and because it would benefit from some repair. It is estimated that tearing it down or repairing it would cost millions. I propose a policy of benign neglect — let us enjoy its iconic beauty as the water spills over it until it slowly collapses in 30 to 40 years. Let it age in place as nature takes its course. Dudley Dudley, Durham, NH.
(The blame game is in full swing.) MI Sues Dam Owners After Failures paintsquare.com, June 18, 2020
Since the failure of the Edenville and Sanford dams last month, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced that a new state lawsuit has been filed against dam owners Boyce Hydro LLC and related companies.
What Happened On May 19, as a result of experiencing record rainfall, emergency responders reportedly went door-to-door to warn residents living along the Tittabawassee River and connected lakes in Midland County, Michigan, about rising flood waters and associated risks it posed to the nearby dam infrastructures. However, just hours after the first evaluation and clearance to return home, residents were asked to leave a second time once the Edenville Dam officially breached. According to city of Midland spokesperson, Selina Tisdale, evacuations included the towns of Edenville, and parts of Midland and Sanford—where Dow Chemical Co.’s main plant sits on the city’s riverbank.
Court orders Edenville Dam owner do emergency inspection A judge in the United States District Court District of Michigan Southern Division has ordered Boyce Hydro, the owner of the Edenville Dam, to complete an emergency inspection of the Edenville Dam.... According to reports, in 2017, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission began the process of Sanford dam revoking Boyce Hydro’s license Edenville Dam due to non-compliance issues that included spillway capacity and the inability to pass the most severe flood reasonably possible. However, issues with the dam’s need for a larger spillway are dated as far back as 1999, when the previous owners informed Boyce Hydro during its transfer in 2004. Yet, those fixes were never made as Boyce Hydro claimed to have lacked millions funding to repair the infrastructure, regardless that it had inked a contract with Consumers Energy to sell electricity generated by the dam. In a September 2018 inspection report, the dam and its spillways were in "fair structural condition" and posed no imminent threat.
At the time of the evacuation, Whitmer estimated that downtown Midland could be under approximately 9 feet of water within 12-15 hours. By Tuesday evening, the Tittabawassee River was reported to be at 30.5 feet high—the area’s flood stage is only 24 feet—and was predicted to
5 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu
crest Wednesday morning at a record high of roughly 38 feet. Although, if the Sanford Dam were to fail, Kaye added that the water surge would be much higher. While the Sanford Dam seemed to be holding up, state officials feared that floodwaters could be mixing with containment ponds at the nearby Dow Chemical Co. plant, displacing sediment from a Superfund site—an area contaminated with dioxins. However, Dow reported that the ponds only hold water, adding that the company hadn’t detected any chemical releases. Regardless, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said state officials would evaluate the plant when conditions are favorable. Dow will also be required to assess the Superfund site to determine if any contamination was released. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has since announced that an investigation into the operators of the dams has been launched and that legal recourse would be pursued. While no injuries or fatalities related to the incident were recounted, the Detroit Free Press reports that the failures caused more than $175 million in damage, with some 2,500 homes and businesses damaged or completely destroyed. The FERC has also directed that dam-owner Boyce Hydro Power LLC establish an independent investigation team to determine the cause of the damage to Sanford Dam, and that it would reach out to state officials regarding the Edenville Dam. The FERC plans to send an engineer to help with the investigation once the area is safe. In January, the Four Lakes Task Force announced a $9.4 million deal to buy the Edenville Dam and three others owned by Boyce Hydro by 2022. The task force is owned by Midland and Gladwin counties, and was tasked with repairing and restoring power generation at the dams. Four months prior to the failure of Edenville Dam, dam safety engineer Luke Trumble with the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy told consultants that the structure failed to meet state standards and wouldn’t accommodate flood predictions. Although a final analysis was expected in March, Trumble reported that the dam was deficient even without considering the impact of waves on Wixom Lake.
While both structures will be undergoing an investigation, Detroit Free Press points out that issues with the state’s dam infrastructure runs deeper than lack of maintenance and repair. According to their report, the state of Michigan only has two officials—Trumble and Dan DeVan— to inspect and review dams, in addition to unit supervisor, Mario Fusco. In 2018, the EGLE was given a budget of only $397,215. The state is reported to have more than 2,500 dams which are inspected on three-, four- or five-year cycles.
The Lawsuit Filed by the Department of Attorney General on behalf of the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy and the Department of Natural Resources, in the 30th District Circuit Court in Ingham County, Michigan, state officials accuse Boyce Hydro and its affiliates for the mismanagement of the structures and disregard for public safety. The listed defendants include Lee Mueller; Boyce Michigan, LLC; Edenville Hydro Property, LLC; Boyce Hydro Power LLC; Boyce Hydro LLC; WD Boyce Trust 2350; WD Boyce Trust 3649; WD Boyce Trust 3650; Stephen B. Hultberg; and Michele G. Mueller. "For well over a decade the defendants violated federal dam safety laws and put profits ahead of safety—all the while pocketing the money they earned through the use of the public's waterways," reads the suit. "Defendants' malfeasance culminated in the catastrophic failures of the Edenville and Sanford dams.” According to WWMT-TV Newschannel 3, the state is seeking compensation, civil fines and the cleanup and restoration of damages caused by the dam failures and subsequent flooding. “This suit seeks to hold the dam owners accountable for the damage they caused and recoup the money the taxpayers have spent responding to the ongoing emergency created by this devastating flood,” Nessel said in a written announcement on the suit. “...This suit seeks an order requiring the dam owners to pay to remediate the harm they caused, and to take action to ensure it does not occur again.” Earlier this week, the state ordered Boyce Hydro to complete its emergency inspection report of the Edenville Dam by June 19. Remaining repair efforts have also been ordered to be completed by June 24 for public safety purposes. The inspection reportedly took place on June 1
6 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu
(What next?) Growing concerns over possible quicksand around dams and lake beds in Midland County By Elise Dolinar, June 16th 2020, nbc25news.com
MIDLAND, COUNTY, Mich. - There are ongoing safety concerns surrounding instability around the dams and lake beds due to erosion in Midland County as a result of recent flooding. This instability in the soil can eventually create a quicksand-like effect, which causes people to sink into the soil and require help from Wixom Lake rescue crews.
No one should be anywhere near the Edenville or Sanford dams or walking in the Wixom and Sanford lake beds; please do not risk the safety of yourself or first responders. There is a significant amount of erosion around the remaining dam structures due to rapid changes in water levels and continued flow from the Beaverton Dam, Tobacco River, and other tributaries, which are creating sink holes.
(What will this accomplish? I have no idea; there already is a review panel) Mid-Michigan dam failures: What happened and where do we go from here? Mackinac Center Policy Forum — Virtual Event, mackinac.org
Join the Mackinac Center’s Environmental Policy Initiative as we look into the recent failure of two mid-Michigan dams. What caused the failures, and how can we begin to repair the damage? Joe Lehman, president of the Mackinac Center, will share opening remarks and be followed by our featured speakers: • David E. Kepler, II, owner, TCP Investments • Jason Hayes, director of Environmental Policy at the Mackinac Center
Since its construction in 1924, the Edenville Dam has been a part of mid-Michigan’s essential infrastructure. The water held by this dam formed Wixom Lake, one of four area lakes that provided a mix of flood control, water resources, and outdoor recreation to the area’s residents and visitors. The towns of Edenville and Sanford, MI both relied heavily on the activity that the lakes encouraged as a central support of their economies. Not surprisingly, pressure is building to determine why rains that this dam had previously endured caused it to fail this year in such a spectacular manner. While many of those involved are busy pointing fingers of blame at others, the growing weight of evidence appears to show that both the dam’s owner and the state agency charged with regulating the dam set the conditions that allowed a historic flood to push the Edenville Dam to rupture. Please join us as we attempt to dig into the causes and potential solutions to this life-changing event. This event will take place on Tuesday, June 23rd at 11 a.m. EDT. To RSVP and receive access to the forum, please register below.
(Guess what! A dam removal story.) Rattlesnake Dam set to be demolished, landscape restored By Madison Doner, June 18th 2020, nbcmontana.com
MISSOULA, Mont. — The Rattlesnake Dam in Missoula that once served as the city’s water source is set to be demolished. The dam is still intact, but a cabin that was once there is already gone. The first step in removing the dam is set to start next week. Once the dam is gone, crews will focus on restoring the land.
“At this point it’s deteriorating, it’s a public safety hazard and it also blocks fish and wildlife migration. Through a
7 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu
lengthy evaluation process we decided to remove the dam and all of its components and basically restore the site to its natural condition,” project manager from Montana Trout Unlimited Rob Roberts said. Missoula Parks and Recreation is doing the landscaping. They're using more than 15 different species from the 20,000 plants grown in their own nursery. Contracting a nursery to plant vegetation for restoration projects or city planting would cost thousands. Officials say having parks and recreation do the landscaping saves anywhere from $50,000 to $75,000.
One importance of this project is to restore the natural habitat for native fish, but officials say it’s also important to plant native vegetation in the soon to be recreational area. “In big restoration projects we are shooting for restoring the habitat as best we can close to what it once was and using native plants is definitely part of that equation,” Missoula Parks and Recreation plant restoration specialist Molly Dillingham said. At the nursery they start plants native to the area from seed. One important reason they plant native plants is so they know they aren't planting vegetation that shouldn’t be there.= “Not just thinking about getting things growing we are also thinking about how can we help to restore that system because we also care about the organisms,” said Dillingham. Officials hope by fall they can start planting and by the spring wildlife and the community will be able to enjoy the restored area.
(Here we go! Why does it take so long?) Michigan announces independent team to look into Midland-area dam failures By Keith Matheny, Detroit Free Press, June 18, 2020, .freep.com
The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy on Thursday announced a six-person, independent forensic investigation team to look into the failures of the Edenville and Sanford dams last month, causing catastrophic flooding in Midland County. The team includes "experts in geotechnical engineering, hydraulics, dam safety and dam design," EGLE officials stated Thursday. Some had expressed concerns about EGLE's earlier announcement that it would lead its own investigation into the May 19 dam failures, which led to flooding causing more than $175 million in damages. EGLE, the state's dam regulator, is named as potentially culpable in the dam failures in multiple lawsuits filed by affected property owners. But EGLE Director Liesl Clark last week hinted that an independent component to the probe would be forthcoming.
Investigative team members include: • John France, president of Denver-based JWF Consulting LLC, who will serve as the team's leader. France has more than 41 years of experience in engineering consulting and design, with most of his technical work for the past 33 years focused on dams and water retention structures, EGLE officials said. He has previously served on technical review boards and panels for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Department of Interior, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, and other agencies. • Irfan Alvi, president and chief engineer of Alvi Associates based in Towson, Maryland, and a nationally recognized expert in dam engineering. • Henry Falvey, president of Henry Falvey and Associates Inc. of Conifer, Colorado, an international consultant on the hydro-mechanics of civil works including dams, outlets and canals. He's the former head of the Hydraulic Research Section at the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. • Steve Higinbotham, a hydraulic structures engineering consultant with more than 40 years' experience in the design of hydraulic structures and large dams. • Arthur Miller, a professor emeritus of civil and environmental engineering from Penn State University with more than 45 years' experience researching, consulting and publishing on hydrology, hydraulics, floodplain delineation and more. • Jennifer Williams, a licensed professional engineer with more than 20 years of experience managing and leading geotechnical engineering projects, with the majority of
8 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu
her career focused on dam safety. Her design engineering experience includes new dams and rehabilitation design of existing embankment dams, EGLE officials stated.
France, Alvi and Falvey participated in the investigation of a 2017 failure at the Oroville Dam in California, the tallest earthen dam in the U.S. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has reviewed and approved of the independent team, EGLE officials stated. FERC regulates the Sanford Dam, where hydroelectric power was being generated. It had previously regulated the Edenville Dam but revoked that dam's hydropower license in September 2018, citing dam owner Boyce Hydro Power LLC's repeated failure to address regulator concerns about the dam's safety, particularly its inadequate spillways to process a large rainfall event. "With the knowledge and experience these professionals bring to the independent investigation, I am confident that we will get a clear picture of what went wrong with the two dams and why," Clark said in a statement Thursday. "Transparency is extremely important as this process moves forward, and EGLE is ready to provide any information necessary to help get answers to this tragedy."
Lori Spragans, executive director of the nonprofit Association of State Dam Safety Officials based in Lexington, Kentucky, said the organization was not asked by the state of Michigan to assist in helping put together its Edenville and Sanford dam failures investigation team. But Spragans had praise for the team compiled. "The team members chosen are national and international leaders in dam safety and dam engineering," she said. Spragans was part of an oversight task group, consisting of her association and the U.S. Society on Dams, that put France, Falvey and Alvi on the Oroville dam failure forensic investigation team.
"These individuals, along with the other team members, have quite a lot of dam safety experience, as well as failure investigative experience," she said. "They are well respected within the dam safety community and have been very involved with (the Association of State Dam Safety Officials) over many years." The investigation and submission of a final report could take up to 18 months to complete, EGLE officials stated. The team had its first meeting virtually on Wednesday, EGLE reported. It will begin its dam investigations after entering into a contract with Boyce Hydro, which "will pay all investigation costs," EGLE said. The investigative team may issue interim findings "if that might prevent failures at dams of similar design," EGLE said.
(Everybody is pointing fingers.) State, dam owner set conditions for flood By JASON HAYES, EDITORIALS AND COLUMNS, JUN 17, 2020, Mackinac Center for Public Policy, .
In May, the Edenville Dam failed, leading to flooding that ruined the homes and lives of many Mid-Michigan residents and forced 11,000 people to evacuate. Weeks later, as people ask why the dam failed, the evidence appears to show that both its owner and the state agency charged with regulating the dam set the conditions that caused it to rupture. The dam had survived heavier rains in the past. But, on May 19, rising water levels in the Tittabawassee River and Wixom Lake scoured out a section of the dam, and water then washed downriver and over the Sanford Dam. Water inundated Edenville and Sanford and flooded low- lying portions of Midland, finally cresting at the highest level ever recorded there.
In February 2018, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, citing a “long history of non-compliance” with federal regulations and inadequate spillway capacity, revoked the license that Boyce Hydro held to operate the
9 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu
Edenville Dam hydroelectric project. Boyce Hydro lacked the funds to make required upgrades. It attempted to pass on to area residents a portion of the $8 million price tag for bringing the dam into compliance with federal regulations, but failed. After the dam lost its federal license, jurisdiction over it shifted to the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy. The department completed an initial inspection in October 2018 that noted “moderate deterioration” of the spillways, but reported “no observed deficiencies that would be expected to cause immediate failure of the dam.”
After the dam failed, however, the department said it had “strong concerns” about the dam’s spillway capacity when it assumed jurisdiction. Officials also reported they were waiting on a nearly completed structural assessment. The 2018 inspection report did not mention inadequate spillway capacity, nor did it recommend further assessments or repairs. Throughout the discussion about spillway capacity, Boyce Hydro had consistently pushed to lower the water levels in Wixom Lake, the lake created by the dam. Although drawdowns raised the ire of local residents, the company maintained that lower water levels in the lake formed “a safety buffer for flood water discharge” and were essential to maintain the dam’s structural integrity. Boyce Hydro’s lawyers claim that, since Michigan regulators assumed jurisdiction, they have kept regulatory activity “exclusively focused on environmental issues.” The company points to an April 30, 2020, lawsuit filed by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, EGLE, and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources as proof. The suit claims Boyce Hydro “dramatically lowered the level of Wixom Lake for an extended period in both 2018 and 2019 … causing the death of thousands if not millions of freshwater mussels, many of which are federally endangered.” That focus on mussels led Boyce Hydro spokesman Lee Mueller to boldly state after the flood that regulators “clearly care more about mussels living in the impoundment than they do about the people living downstream of the dam.”
But EGLE spokesperson Nick Assendelft pushed back against Mueller’s claims in a May 22 email, arguing that “EGLE directed Boyce to follow the court-ordered lake level requirements.” Assendelft also reiterated a claim that the company had a “troubling track record of noncompliance and neglect.” He argued, “Boyce’s assertion that its illegal emptying of Lake Wixom — to the detriment of property owners and the environment — was motivated by concern for the safety of local residents is false.” Boyce Hydro claims it acted quickly on May 15, ahead of the storm, to once again begin drawing down lake levels. But, clearly, it was unable to draw water levels down sufficiently to hold the flood waters back. Now, in the immediate aftermath of the breach of the Edenville Dam, numerous lawsuits have been filed against both Boyce Hydro and the state’s environmental department, and demands for an independent investigation are mounting. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has called for EGLE to lead that investigation, a suggestion that has been widely panned as wholly unrealistic, given its direct involvement in the dam’s management. The notion of an independent investigation requires that a neutral team of experts in dam construction and management be brought in. But EGLE employees are far too close to the issue and can’t reasonably be expected to lead an investigation into their own activities. Jason Hayes is the director of Environmental Policy for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.
Hydro: (Excerpts. News from somewhere other than MI.) EID planning for facility move, power shutoffs By Dawn Hodson, JUN 0, 2020, villagelife.com
10 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu
Power shutoffs and an analysis of the cost of relocating the Bass Lake wastewater facility were among the items taken up by the El Dorado Irrigation District Board of Directors at its June 8 meeting. EID staff is making preparations to minimize impacts to its system in the event of more PG&E public safety power shutoffs this year. EID has 168 electrical service connections with PG&E. In 2019 the largest power shutoff event affected 125 of those connections. The outages
compromised EID’s ability to pump water and wastewater, provide fire protection, generate hydroelectric power and operate the Sly Park Recreation Area. To plan for the upcoming fire season the district has taken a number of steps including investing in the permanent installation of generators. The district has 187 generators, 11 of which are mobile and can be moved around as needed. EID is also is pursuing contracts with vendors to rent additional generators as needed and has applied for a FEMA grant to help fund the purchase of additional generators.
To minimize the number of sites affected, district staff have met with representatives from PG&E. The power company is planning to make supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) improvements and add equipment in the El Dorado Hills area to reduce the number of sites that could be affected by a future power shutdown. And while the California Public Utilities Commission, Cal Fire and the California Office of Emergency Services have advised PG&E to minimize the impact of shutoff events on residents and businesses, EID staff said they don’t expect PG&E to change their approach in carrying them out.
Bass Lake facility relocation Previously the board approved the relocation of a wastewater collection system from Bass Lake to the El Dorado Hills Wastewater Treatment Facility where a new facility is being designed and built. But questions were raised regarding whether it would have been cheaper to just renovate the existing facility.
Staff responded with an analysis, putting the cost of relocating the Bass Lake facilities at $3.1 million. A cost that included the $925,000 the district received in selling the property to the El Dorado Hills Community Service District. The cost of renovating existing facilities at Bass Lake was put at $3.8 million. A major factor underlying the decision was how much development has occurred around the Bass Lake site. When the facility was first built it was largely surrounded by vacant land. Now subdivisions are closing in around the facility, making future conflicts inevitable. Director Alan Day suggested that such an analysis should have been done upfront rather than afterward, as he requested the staff to include such analyses on future projects.
2019 audit The board unanimously approved an audit for 2019 prepared by Hudson Henderson & Company. The auditors reported a “clean” or “unqualified” finding for the agency. EID’s Finance Director Mark Price said the district has never had a qualified audit. Operating revenue for last year increased $4 million to $68.2 million from 2018 due primarily to hydroelectric sales. Property tax revenue increased $.4 million to $13.1 million. Capital assets, net of accumulated depreciation, totaled $727.9 million, an increase of $13.2 million from 2018. Charges for new hookups were
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$12.9 million, a $7.1 million decrease from 2018, due to a slowdown in development. Operating expenses, not including depreciation, increased $3.6 million to $56.8 million. Net long term debt and loans were $315.6 million, a decrease of $32.9 million. Residents can read the district’s annual comprehensive financial report, which includes the auditor’s report, at eid.org/home/showdocument?id=13651: http://www.eid.org/home/showdocument?id=13651 ------.
(Why have an EAP. This will tell you why!) ‘Pretty phenomenal': How thousands evacuated before Midland-area dam burst with no lives lost By Kaitlyn Farley | mlive.com, Jun 21, 2020
MIDLAND, MI - Belle Fawcett was 10 minutes into her shift at Dow Chemical Co. in Midland when the flood alert went out. Fawcett and her fellow employees were being told to evacuate. Though it had rained several inches in the area over the previous 48 hours, Fawcett didn’t believe there was much to worry about. She’d lived through a 2017 flood and her house wasn’t damaged. Nonetheless, she knew she didn’t want to be stuck at Dow’s facilities along the Tittabawassee River if flooding did reach Midland. “A couple of people stayed behind. The rest of us called supervision and asked to leave,” she recalled.
It was about 5 p.m. on Tuesday, May 19. Over the next two hours, as emergency alerts continued, Fawcett joined about 10,000 people in the Midland area who evacuated. Some left on their own and others were shepherded out by first responders who had been running door to door for hours. As the scramble to safety continued, the Edenville Dam burst Tuesday evening and shortly thereafter water poured over the top of the Sanford Dam, two privately owned hydroelectric dams upstream of Midland. That caused the raging Tittabawassee River to flood into neighborhoods throughout Midland County, including Sanford and the city of Midland. More than 2,000 homes were damaged or destroyed, as well as roads, bridges and businesses in the path of the floodwaters. After the water receded, officials called it a miracle that no one was hurt or killed. How did that happen? “The reason it worked is, quite frankly, people listened and reacted,” Midland City Manager Brad Kaye said. “Around 10,000 were evacuated in the city alone. The only reason there was no loss of life or injury was because people listened and evacuated calmly.” ‘I barely got out' Fawcett’s story as a flood survivor is typical of what many experienced. A few hours before the floodwaters hit the City of Midland, Fawcett had left work after the flood alert and was on her way home, about 6 miles east of Midland. Emergency officials had begun closing roads before she left for work. On her way back home, her usual route was blocked to vehicles. By the time she arrived home, Fawcett said she received a text message to evacuate from there as well. “I thought that was unnecessary,” she said. “I lived far enough from the Tittabawassee in a brick house, and I didn’t want to go.” She thought it over and decided to leave. Before doing so, she went to her basement and moved some boxed items from low shelves to higher ones. She left with her boyfriend for a friend’s house, still thinking the evacuation was more of a precaution than an actual danger. “I was calm, honestly. When I left, people were loading stuff in trucks,” Fawcett said. “We thought it was just a precaution.”
Later, she discovered her entire basement had filled with water from the floor to the ceiling. Trevor Wedge’s house had survived unscathed after the 2017 flooding as well. So, when he received the same evacuation notice as Fawcett, he decided to wait it out. “I was one of the last
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on the street to leave,” Wedge said. “Well, my house went through the two-worst floods in Midland history and never got hit. So I honestly thought I would be fine. I waited, and then (the water) came in very quickly. It probably filled my street in under 10 minutes.”
At 6:41 p.m., Wedge recalled getting an emergency text stating, “MIDLAND CITY RESIDENTS WEST OF EASTMAN SOUTH OF US-10 NEED TO EVACUATE DUE TO DAM COLLAPSE.” When Wedge looked outside a while later, his street was completely flooded. Before the water came, though, Wedge had moved his truck to the end of the street, where the ground was higher than it was in front of his house, and he pulled his kayak out of the basement, “just in case.” By the time Wedge moved some items out of his basement, he realized “just in case” had come due. “I brought some of the last things up, and then I heard the water start pouring into the basement,” he said. “When I looked outside, the water was over my mailbox. So, I got in my kayak and kayaked down my street to my truck. By that point the water was probably knee-high up to my truck. I barely got out.” Wedge was one of the last people to leave his street on Tuesday, May 19. He had to kayak to safety.
Taking a late-night call To many officials, it felt like pure luck and good timing that the Midland County Emergency Management team had just reviewed, practiced and tweaked the county’s emergency evacuation plans last fall. Even with that good fortune, Jerome Fire Chief Jerry Cole said it was still “pretty phenomenal” that the City of Midland alone was able to evacuate so many citizens during a record-high flooding emergency without loss of life or injury. When Cole’s father was the fire chief, the myriad cities, towns and villages, along with each of their respective local government services and departments, were “companies onto themselves.” Cole said that transformed drastically during his 45 years in the fire department and, on May 19, that fact would play a key role saving lives across Midland County. After a regularly scheduled Midland City Council Meeting ended around 10:30 p.m. on May 18, City Manager Kaye and the rest City Council were told they had an emergency call to take in 15 minutes. That call was from the Emergency Operation Center.
“It was a short discussion,” Kaye said. “The emergency operations team had determined that there was at least a concern about actually the Smallwood Dam being lost.” The Smallwood Dam lies upstream from the Edenville and Sanford dams. Midland Mayor Maureen Donker said the City Council was informed by Midland County Emergency Management team that heavy rains from the last few days were expected to cause flooding throughout Midland County. According to Donker, key leadership on the Midland County Emergency Management team include Jennifer Boyer, the emergency management coordinator; Bridgette Gransden, the county administrator and controller; Kaye, the Midland city manager; and Chris Coughlin, the Midland City fire chief. Around 11 p.m. that Monday, the emergency team assembled for a virtual call, where Boyer began raising concerns about the Smallwood Dam. The heavy rainfall could cause its structure to breach, especially since nearby Wixom Lake did not have the capacity to take on extra water. The rainfall was already raising the lake levels, and Boyer was concerned about potential flooding.
“We were worried about a domino effect,” Boyer said. “If the Smallwood Dam went out, that water would have to go somewhere. That was most likely going to be Edenville Dam.” The Edenville Dam structure would not be able to hold extra water coming from the Smallwood Dam, Gransden explained. Those on the call, including many board members who had worked on the emergency team through previous Midland flooding, were worried the Smallwood Dam would fail during the night. “We didn’t go into that
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meeting Monday night thinking we’d activate the Emergency Operations Center,” Boyer said. “But hearing the concern in the voices of folks on the call who had been around for a while made us confident that we had to start evacuations,” Gransden added. Once the decision to activate the Emergency Operations Center was made, Kaye, who is also part of the EOC, said the board had a few emergency plans for flooding to choose from. One plan accounts for a 28 foot river crest, which is 3 feet above what is considered flooded for the Tittabawassee River. This plan entails sending emergency notifications to residents with the expectation that a few roads will be flooded. During the late May flooding, the Tittabawassee River would crest at 35.05 feet, beating out the previous record of 33.9 feet in 1986. However, by 3:30 a.m. on Tuesday, just a few hours after the first evacuation notifications went out, Kaye said the emergency management team was no longer concerned that the Smallwood Dam would fail. They believed the county would only be facing a flooding event.
That picture changed again in just a few hours. After the emergency team met again Tuesday morning for updates on the potential flooding emergency, fears were growing that the Edenville Dam would fail, according to Kaye. While areas near the Edenville and Sanford Dams had already been sent evacuation notices, it was time to consider further evacuations across Midland County, including the City of Midland.
Deciding to act While the emergency team wasn’t 100 percent certain the Edenville Dam would fail, Kaye and his fellow team members decided it would be best to start evacuations before nighttime, as the darkness would make evacuations much more difficult. “We started evacuating upstream, near Edenville,” Kaye said. “It has always been known that if the Edenville Dam fails, Sanford will most likely fail. So, we then began evacuations downstream in the afternoon.” As per the county’s emergency plans, several departments and leaders throughout the county were involved in putting the emergency plan for dam failures in action. The dam failure evacuation plan assumes at least one dam has failed and expansive, dangerous river flooding is imminent, Kaye said. “The plan involves a defined geographic area that will most likely see major flooding,” he said. “It includes giving out notices, such as through the emergency notification network we use, Nixle. It, of course, also involves alerting the news media and sending out press releases.” Dow Chemical is also part of every county emergency plan, according to Kaye. Because of the potential for chemical contamination during a flood or other emergencies, Dow Chemical is “party to” all county-wide emergency planning, Kaye said.
“We all work together, and our main worry is people first and foremost,” he said. “Residents are the primary concern. Dow has their own planning, too, but they get the same information we do at the same time as us. They largely handle themselves.” Besides Dow Chemical, Boyce Hydro, which owns the Edenville and Sanford Dams, is part of the emergency plans, too. Boyer said a Boyce Hydro representative was on the emergency call Monday night. “If your county has a dam, you have to have a dam failure emergency plan,” Boyer said. “When we last reviewed our plan, we realized we needed a better relationships with Boyce Hydro. We’ve since clarified our plans with them, and they also have their own emergency plans.” Boyer said the county was kept up to date from Boyce Hydro throughout the flooding emergency. During the fall emergency drill, the emergency team had clarified their plans and communication with Boyce in the case of a dam failure. The drill also led the team to better map out emergency evacuation sites and clarify emergency messaging, Boyer said.
First responders from the sheriff's office survey the flooding in downtown Midland on Wednesday, May 20, 2020. After the Edenville Dam failed and the Tittabawassee River flooded surrounding areas, many residents were urged to leave their homes. (Kaytie Boomer | MLive.com)Kaytie Boomer | MLive.com
Beginning evacuations
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After residents, Dow and other parties were notified of the potential flooding emergency at 12:22 a.m. on Tuesday, the final step in the county emergency plan was beginning evacuations, Boyer said. As soon as the first notification was sent out, first responders, mainly firefighters, were sent out to begin door-to-door evacuations starting in the areas with the highest risk. Cole was one of many fire chiefs involved in ensuring swift, safe evacuations from Midland County’s most high-risk flooding areas. As the Jerome fire chief, Cole was responsible for evacuating both Jerome and neighboring Sanford, which would be one of the worst-hit areas in Midland. Much of Cole’s job during evacuations involved making sure those physically evacuating flood-risk areas had the information and tools they needed to do so safely and quickly. In total, Cole said he had 16 firefighters split on two teams evacuating areas with fire trucks and some personal vehicles.
“The evacuation plan calls for a door-to-door evacuation of people, and that’s what we did on Tuesday night,” Cole said. “It took about five and half hours to do the evacuations in flood zones.” The firefighters used air horns and PA systems to ask locals to vacate their homes due to a potential dam failure and the consequent flooding it could cause. Throughout this process, Cole said an “unsung hero” during evacuations was the seven-man central dispatch team. “Typically, a 24-hour period sees approximately 250 calls to dispatch,” Cole said. “Within 24 hours of the dam failures, they had 1,338 calls. Only seven of them had to wait more than 10 seconds to be responded to. That’s just phenomenal.” Throughout evacuations, Cole said he was “amazed” by the firefighters evacuating Sanford and Jerome. He said they remained calm, professional and polite even though they were facing such extreme danger. “You’re sending these people who have families, children right in harm’s way,” Cole said. “You know what you’re sending them into, and they’re more than willing to go.”
Explaining the life-saving ‘trifecta’ During May, the Jerome Fire Department worked 799 hours, according to Cole. In the aftermath of the flooding emergency, no lives were lost or injured were reported throughout all of Midland County. Cole said he believes a trifecta made that possible. “To me, there’s a trifecta that plays in,” Cole said. “You have the plan that took place, and people knew what it was and where it was located at. You had central dispatch. Then you had the firefighters on the ground who are trained to put the plan in motion.” Cole, along with several other officials, credits much of the evacuations’ success to the fall review of the emergency plan, which involved emergency officials throughout the entire county.
“The plan was drafted back in 2014,” Cole said. “We just did an upgrade on it last year. I wasn’t directly involved in that, but one of my officers in charge of helping people was.” Kaye agreed that the fall exercise played a significant role in making sure people knew what their roles would be in a flooding emergency. During the training, Kaye said the team identified “a few things here and there” that needed to be changed, but, overall, the emergency team was able to successfully complete the drill. While the fall drill was important, Kaye said he believed another factor was even more important in assuring safe evacuations: the residents of Midland County who listened and took the emergency seriously. Both Kaye and Cole said a few people had opted not to leave after the first notifications were sent out. However, first responders were able to convince most residents to leave after the first wave of evacuations were completed.
“We had a lady in one house Monday that was in her house with five to six feet of water around it,” Cole said. “She was going to try to ride it out until the water went down. We sent a boat crew to get her out. Her house is now floating somewhere in the Tittabawassee River.” While Cole and Kaye both said they went into the emergency hoping no one would get hurt, they also acknowledged the difficulties of making that a reality. As Kaye noted, making sure residents cooperated would be a key for Cole and his firefighters to successfully evacuate the Sanford Village area. Besides the woman who would lose her house to the Tittabawassee River, Cole also recounted a group of individuals standing on a bridge trying to get photos of the moment
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when the Sanford Dam broke. As such, Cole and his team of firefighters had to “herd people” off the bridge.
“It was in the back of my mind that we needed to get people evacuated,” Cole said. “For the most part, people cooperated, but people don’t always make good decisions.” The county emergency plan called for Cole’s firefighters to evacuate around 500 homes. By the end of Tuesday, May 19, Cole said they evacuated around 700 homes, which worked out to around 2,000 people. There was a “broad, broad range of people” who contributed to no one getting hurt during evacuations, Kaye added. Emergency center managers, first responders, fire chiefs throughout the county and road commission employees were just a handful of people responsible for ensuring the safety of Midland residents during the record-breaking flooding. Each person, team, department and local government had to work together to pull off the evacuation plan successfully. “One of the things we’ve considered ourselves fortunate for is that we have a good working relationship with these groups,” Kaye said. “We do practice emergency response together, and everybody has a role to play.”
Besides communications, Gransden stressed that early notification played a factor in ensuring the safety of residents and first responders. As of June 18, no reports of flood-related deaths or injuries have been given to the county emergency team. “The plan, the dispatch, the firefighters on the ground – it’s just amazing to me how that worked together,” Cole said. “There were no serious injuries, no loss of life, and no harm to the firefighters. That’s all I’ve got to say. That’s why there was no loss of life. That’s pretty phenomenal.” Read More Flood-ravaged Sanford will be a ‘vibrant community’ again after $23 million in damage, leaders say
Volunteers rally to help Midland area pick up the pieces after devastating floods. Groups donate nearly $2.5 million to help residents hit by floods in Midland area Local attorney starts GoFundMe for Sanford businesses affected by flooding. Flooding causes $27 million in damage to Midland County roads and bridges ‘Our whole life is gone,’ says woman whose Sanford home was washed away in Midland floods ‘We lost our whole town:’ Sanford salvages what’s left after flood destroys homes and businesses Consumers Energy provides close to $90k in grants to aid flood victims Midland County offers free water test kits to well owners concerned with potential contamination
Water: (Every time it rains, I think about this stuff.) A hard rain is gonna fall (often) & dams need to get ready By David Brooks | Jun 18, 2020 | Blog, Newsletter | concordmonitor.com
Climate change is bringing more incidences of heavy rains – not necessarily more precipitation overall, just more concentrated downpours. That’s a problem for dams built under the assumption that past rainfall patterns will continue. I’ve got a story in today’s Monitor (read it here) about the dam that holds back Lake Penacook, which provides the water supply for Concord. It is one of 32 dams rated as “poor” – mostly not because the infrastructure is crumbling but because it’s unclear
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that existing spillways are big enough for anticipated heavy deluges. Spillways are the area next to the dam itself that handle overflow; if they can’t handle it water over go over the top of the dam, eating away at the structure – that’s a very common cause of dam failures. Here’s the thing I learned that surprised me: The Lake loses about 1 million gallons of water to evaporation on a sunny day. It’s the water cycle in action! By the way, I wrote this a couple of weeks ago and it was finally printed on the same day that the state warned about possible drought. Such timing!
iThis compilation of articles and other information is provided at no cost for those interested in hydropower, dams, and water resources issues and development, and should not be used for any commercial or other purpose. Any copyrighted material herein is distributed without profit or payment from those who have an interest in receiving this information for non-profit and educational purposes only.
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