Upgrading the NRCS Y-14 dam in Gwinnett County
Author(s)
Hudock, Gregg W.
Humphries, Richard W.
Fleming, Sam
West, Terry
Advisor(s)
Editor(s)
Hatcher, Kathryn J.
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Abstract
Suburban development of Gwinnett County
has surrounded many of the flood control watershed dams
that were built in the mid-1900s. In many cases, the
watersheds and downstream reaches have developed
significantly since the time of construction. Development
has changed the runoff characteristics of the watershed
and many homes are now in the breach zones of these
dams. The spillways of many of these dams cannot safely
pass flood flows based on current design standards
required by the State of Georgia Rules for Dam Safety or
the NRCS design criteria for high hazard dams.
The Yellow River Watershed Dam No. 14 (Y-14) is the
first of the watershed dams to be upgraded in Gwinnett
County. Y-14 was originally constructed in 1967 by the
Soil Conservation Service (SCS – currently the USDA
Natural Resources Conservation Service or NRCS) to
control drainage from a 3.1 square mile watershed. The
structure has a 40 feet high embankment dam, a traditional
SCS principal spillway structure with a riser tower and
outlet pipe, and a 50 ft. wide earthen auxiliary spillway
through a saddle on the left abutment.
In 2003, the dam was upgraded to bring it into
compliance with modern standards by constructing a new
Roller Compacted Concrete (RCC) Stepped Spillway on
top of the embankment dam and decommissioning the
original auxiliary spillway. This paper describes the
evaluation of the original dam and the design of the
upgrades to the dam.
Sponsor
Sponsored by:
Georgia Environmental Protection Division
U.S. Geological Survey, Georgia Water Science Center
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service
Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia Water Resources Institute
The University of Georgia, Water Resources Faculty
Date
2005-04
Extent
Resource Type
Text
Resource Subtype
Proceedings