A civil engineering disaster 177 years in the making.

[Tervuren]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

I heard about this on the radio on the way home from Balmer (Baltimore) today. They're talking about draining it IMMEDIATELY. YIKES!

If You've seen some of the photo's the team took to come to their conclusion, its a definite yikes.

There was a massive lack of maintenance of steel parts that have dissolved away, combined with digging out and putting unspeced stress on the earthen parts of the dam.

Its not just piling more dirt in, the stone retaining walls have cracked and are shifting.

Water is flowing in places it shouldn't. Its not flowing in places it should.

[daepp]

Wow - those photos are scary. Don't they have building codes and inspectors? One guy actually cut through the dam to install his boathouse!!!!! WTH???

[porsche4life]

Looking at those photos it's no wonder they are freaking out. It's a wonder it hasn't failed already

[patssle]

Go get a real job in the private sector.

And that's exactly one of many good reasons why this country has problems. Government has a purpose to serve its citizens in various aspects. But when you take a certain sect of people that doesn't want to pay taxes and thinks of all government workers as "useless" that need to get a "real job" - then government jobs and the purpose of government are demeaned.

I'm glad there are plenty of people out there that do enjoy working for the government and serving our country - in healthcare, environmental, safety, and other such departments and protection agencies. Or you know....teachers. And the military.

[dave 911]

Wow! How could they let this happen? Some of those newer homes look pretty pricey. Looks like the potential for alot of lawsuits....

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by patssle

And that's exactly one of many good reasons why this country has problems. Government has a purpose to serve its citizens in various aspects. But when you take a certain sect of people that doesn't want to pay taxes and thinks of all government workers as "useless" that need to get a "real job" - then government jobs and the purpose of government are demeaned.

I'm glad there are plenty of people out there that do enjoy working for the government and serving our country - in healthcare, environmental, safety, and other such departments and protection agencies. Or you know....teachers. And the military.

No one of any intelligence really thinks ALL government workers are lazy paper pushing bureaucrats. BUT we all see in the news over and over and over stories about the VA workers that really only cared about getting a bonus. They let patients DIE waiting years for treatment they earned with military service. Yet the VA employees just shuffled paper to hide the facts and earn themselves a big bonus.

Look at the entire debacle of the Obamacare web site. Ignore the Obamacare just look how they somehow spent 800 MILLION on a web site and it could not handle 100 users at once. I wonder how many people log onto Amazon every day. It does not crash and I bet it did not cost anything close to 800 million to put up.

Look at the ATF and fast and furious, or how the Secret Service just keep screwing up over and over. There is a real and overwhelming problem of a lot of incompetent lazy government workers or should I say paycheck collectors. The millions of dedicated hard working government workers are the silent majority and never make the news by going to work and busting butt to do a good job.

[dennis in se pa]

If the lake has an average depth of 6' this cannot be a big problem.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

I disagree - I have two close family members that are now retired former govt workers (state, one also had military service), my brother and his wife are teachers (quasi-public / charter school) and I worked a public sector internship years ago. I stand by what I said - get a real job in the private sector once you've hit your cap. It would also help rein in pension costs and shift the focus from bureaucratic procedure to actually getting meaningful stuff done. If I had a dollar for every minute of my life lost trying to learn or understand some insanely convoluted agency process I'd be rich. Energy spent creating and getting staffers to understand / enforce these "one-size-fits-all" procedures would be way better spent on things of actual value.

Most government workers are great and do a good job just trying to earn a living - but they should still only do it for X number of years before they become valueless outside of whatever agency or bureau of department they're with because they're so entrenched in the system and that particular way of doing (or not doing) things.

The real problem of course is the politicians - they have to be reined in and limited by strict and absolute term limits. If we only restricted elected office these people would simply become employees and still do lots of damage as directors, commissioners, agency heads, etc. There has to be a way of keeping those sorts of personalities historically drawn to politics away from the system and ensuring an infusion of new blood - that's why we need to kick EVERYONE in a publicly-funded position - federal, state or local - out after "X" years no matter what. It's the only way.

Truly talented people will always manage to land on their feet. They can always pursue contract work too...

[kach22i]

Drain it, turn it into a golf course - problem solved.

Hovercraft can still use it in either case.

Guess everyone will have to trade in their boats for golf clubs and hovercraft.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by dennis in se pa

If the lake has an average depth of 6' this cannot be a big problem.

The report says 14,000 acre-feet of water.

[Jolly Amaranto]

Aww, just drive some steel down in front of it and carry on.

[island911]

exactly. ^^^

we are not talking about a lot of hydraulic pressure here; nor are we talking about some massive infrastructure project.

[GWN7]

If you look at the West end of the lake with Google maps you can see where the dam has slipped. A very expensive fix.

[HardDrive]

Thats the kind of thinking that keeps you trapped in the private sector. What's needed here are 10 years of absurdly expensive studies, multiple committees, and an entire new department at the department of natural resources to handle the project.

Originally Posted by island911

we are not talking about a lot of hydraulic pressure here; nor are we talking about some massive infrastructure project.

[dennis in se pa]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

The report says 14,000 acre-feet of water.

That is fine. The lateral pressure is the issue, and that is determined by the depth. They pour concrete structures in situations like this as a common practice. A good retaining wall would mitigate most of the issues until everyone involved is dead. As far as the ownership/future maintenance issues - that is another matter. I think that is where the hornets nest lies.

[ckelly78z]

Just saw in the newspaper that the Ohio Governor approved a new earthen dam to be built for Buckeye Lake at a cost of $125-$150M and would take 2+ years to complete. The lake will be kept at half it's usuall depth, a mere 3' like it is in the Winter until the damn is opperable. This means that all the Summertime boating/camping, marinas, and other local businesses will suffer for the duration, and the possability of a deadly natural disaster is replaced with a certain financial disaster.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by ckelly78z

Just saw in the newspaper that the Ohio Governor approved a new earthen dam to be built for Buckeye Lake at a cost of $125-$150M and would take 2+ years to complete. The lake will be kept at half it's usuall depth, a mere 3' like it is in the Winter until the damn is opperable. This means that all the Summertime boating/camping, marinas, and other local businesses will suffer for the duration, and the possability of a deadly natural disaster is replaced with a certain financial disaster.

Flash floods from a burst dam tend to kill people and be VERY expensive and cause a lot of financial disaster. Just like the federal government, they keep kicking the can down the road for the generation to fix.

[ckelly78z]

No doubt about it, it's either fix it now, or clean it up later, which, either option will be extremely spendy. Just a shame that the economy will probably suffer a severe hit in that area from lack of vacationers. I was actually thinking of taking the camper there this Summer for a week, but not now.

[GWN7]

Originally Posted by ckelly78z

Just saw in the newspaper that the Ohio Governor approved a new earthen dam to be built for Buckeye Lake at a cost of $125-$150M and would take 2+ years to complete. The lake will be kept at half it's usuall depth, a mere 3' like it is in the Winter until the damn is opperable. This means that all the Summertime boating/camping, marinas, and other local businesses will suffer for the duration, and the possability of a deadly natural disaster is replaced with a certain financial disaster.

If they build a new dam in front of the old dam the government then can recoup the costs of the new dam by selling the new "lake front" lots to people. < Green