The public perception of water supply dams may bring to mind huge reservoirs, such as the Hoover Dam in Nevada and, in the Pacific Northwest, the Grand Coulee dam. However, Washington state also is charged with regulating and monitoring over a thousand dams of varying sizes, most of them under 50 feet tall. These largely earthen dams are used for a variety of irrigation, water quality, and recreation purposes.
Grand Coulee Dam
Source: Bureau of Reclamation
Helping Dam Owners Plan for Storm and Precipitation Impacts on Dams
Washington’s Dam Safety Office conducts design, planning, and construction inspection and monitoring to ensure dams and owners (the majority of the dams they monitor are privately owned) operate in a safe manner. As part of the regulations, dams are required to meet specific risk-based design requirements during major storms, particularly anticipating heavy rain and or snow events.
Every 10 years, precipitation data is gathered across hundreds of weather stations throughout the state for storm event analysis to help determine safety design criteria. These data and analysis are used by dam owners and state dam safety engineers to ensure design requirements are met.
A Better Software Tool for Dam Safety Projects
“We are very happy with the updated calculator developed by the Aspect-MGS team. It will benefit many dam engineers for the next decade.”
- Dam Safety Office manager Joe Witczak.
Aspect’s software development team, in collaboration with Washington’s Dam Safety Office and MGS Engineering Consultants, co-designed and developed a more user intuitive application for both dam owners and dam safety engineers for risk-based design. The Precipitation Magnitude-Frequency Calculator application helps dam owners determine their requirements by dam location and storm duration event. Users can now more easily select their dam location, storm event durations (small, medium, large), and quickly see the safety design requirements for their particular location. The new calculator is available to download as a zip file on the state’s website.
Contact Chris Bellusci and Mike Mills for more information on Aspect’s software development services for science and engineering projects.