30
Geotechnical News • June 2018
GEOHAZARDS
Dam geohazards
Richard Guthrie, Editor
If you were watching the news
recently you may have seen failure
of an earthen dam in Solai, Kenya,
where, as of this time of writing
38 persons are confirmed dead and
thousands are displaced as floods and
mudflows swept away villages in their
path.
Dams form a special class of geo-
hazards as many are man-made and
designed to specifically provide a
benefit to humans. The 2014 Mount
Polley failure reminded us of some of
the hazards associated with dams, and
it behooves us to consider the global
record of major dam failures (Table 1)
and the seriousness of the hazard.
So, what are Canadians doing to
reduce that hazard in our own back-
yard? Chad LePoudre is the Vice
President of Geoscience and Materials
at SNC-Lavalin, and the President of
the Canadian Dam Association (CDA)
since October 2016 and provides this
quarter’s article on recent work by
the Mining Dams Committee of the
CDA.)
Call for project descriptions
Geohazards is interested in featuring
projects that you’ve been researching,
investigating, or implementing, around
the world in 2017/2018. Specifically,
we are looking to feature the breadth
and depth of Canadian geotechnical
expertise and input to Geohazard chal-
lenges elsewhere in the world. Please
submit a good quality photograph and
a project description to
Richard.guth-
by June 21, 2018.
Table 1. A global list of known major dam failures
1
.
Dam/incident
Year
Location
Fatalities Details
2
Marib Dam
575 Sheba, Yemen
Unknown
Pantano de Puentes
1802 Lorca, Spain
608
1,800 houses and 40,000 trees destroyed.
Dale Dike Reservoir
1864 South Yorkshire,
England, United
Kingdom
244
Small leak in wall grew until dam failed.
Mill River Dam
1874 Williamsburg,
Massachusetts, United
States
139
600 million gallons of water were
released, wiping out 4 towns and making
national headlines. This dam break lead
to increased regulation of dam
construction.
South Fork Dam
1889 Johnstown,
Pennsylvania,
United States
2,209
Blamed locally on poor maintenance by
owners; court deemed it an “Act of God”.
Followed exceptionally heavy rainfall.
Caused Johnstown flood.
McDonald Dam
1900 Texas, United States 0
Extreme current caused failure.
Hauser Dam
1908 Helena,
Montana,
United States
0
Heavy flooding coupled with poor
foundation quality.
Austin Dam
1911 Austin,
Pennsylvania,
United States
78
Poor design, use of dynamite to remedy
structural problems.
Desná Dam
1916 Desná, Austria-
Hungary (now Czech
Republic)
62
Construction flaws caused the dam
failure.
