View allAll Photos Tagged FloodControl
A natural garden turns to gold in the evening sunlight below and on the tiers of the Rocky Top retaining wall in southeast Albuquerque. The parched bed of the Four Hills flood-control arroyo (upper right) testifies to the shortage of rain in the neighborhood in 2025 to date.
For centuries Bath had suffered from the River Avon flooding - even the Romans had to raise the level of some of their baths complex to alleviate the problem. Flood levels are marked on the buttress of Widcombe footbridge, on buildings in Grove Street and on Norfolk Buildings.
Pulteney Weir was built In the early 1970s in its current 'V'shape, with an associated flood control gate (sluice) on the east side of the river.
It features in the recently released film of Les Misérables. Part of the scene where Inspector Javert commits suicide by jumping into the River Seine was filmed here in October 2012.
In the town of Klang we met up with Sin Siew Ling and his wife, Kem, along with our companions Yoon Lai and Poh Siew, at a restaurant for our venture to the island of Pulau Ketam.
Hasselblad 500 C/M
Carl Zeiss Sonnar 150mm f/4 T
Fuji Neopan Acros 100
Drain the swamp, dam the lake, kill the rivers.
The nutrient rich organic muck soils around Lake Okeechobee are known locally as "black gold." This is the stuff that fuels the sugarcane industry.
But all that sweetness comes at a price.
The drainage of the sawgrass swamp to convert it into farmland has overloaded the Lake Okeechobee ecosystem with excess nitrogen and phosphorus; and the dried-out organic soil is disappearing fast due to subsidence, wildfires and oxidation.
When water is discharged from the lake to control flooding, the gates that release water open from the bottom, and the accumulated, polluted muck sediments are wreaking havoc in local estuaries.
Fixing the problem involves jump-starting backlogged Everglades restoration projects that would store and clean up stormwater; redirecting more of it to the Everglades instead of out to sea. But those multibillion-dollar efforts come at a steep cost to taxpayers and will take decades to complete.
It seemed like a good Idea at the time. Build a nice little dam in a short deep canyon and provide water and flood protection for nearby farms. That's the kind of stuff US Bureau of Reclamation and Army Corps Engineers dream about. So, in the case of the Anchor Dam on Owl Creek in Wyoming, engineering desires and political expediency overrode the geologic reality. Farmers and residents knew that the canyon had caves and fractures. They knew that irrigation ditches in the area some times leaked or that water in creeks and ditches sometimes suddenly disappeared into gaping holes. But their warnings went unheeded. Geologists who studied the project were cautious but downplayed the risks. Some even dismissed the risks all together. They recommended further studies and investigations which were not conducted. Project engineering planning moved "full steam" ahead with most believing the engineers could and would solve any pesky problem the earth could throw at them.
In reality, though, the dam site had several inter-related geologic problems. It was located on the limb of the Anchor Anticline. Folding and faulting of the anticlinal structure resulted in a pattern of fractures and joints that would allow water to penetrate the rocks. The rocks of the area include 4 rock types known for dissolving or dissolutioning in water to form caves and or sinkholes: limestone, dolomite, anhydrite, gypsum. Gypsum layers and anhydrite layers in the Triassic Chugwater Formation and Permian-Triassic Goose Egg formation can dissolve in water and cause collapses called sinkholes. Dolomite and limestone are both carbonates chemically and are well known as cave prone lithologies. In the Anchor area, dolomite is found in stringers in the Pennsylvanian Tensleep sandstone while limestone and dolomite make up much of the Triassic Dinwoody and Permian Phosphoria. The last two inter-finger with stringers of Goose Egg red beds in the area. The limestone and dolomite dissolves along fractures forming cave networks. There were already open fissures and caves formed along the fractures. The area has several prehistoric sinkholes from the dissolutioning of limestone, dolomite, gypsum and anhydrite that were filled in with alluvium. These older sink holes can sometimes still actively take fluid.
The subsurface geological studies that could have better defined the risks listed above were never done. In hind sight, these technical issues should have delayed or canceled the project. They did not, but the project was delayed by political issues that held up construction of the dam from the late 1940s till 1957. The project originally called the Owl Creek project and Embar project was delayed over water rights and US law that requires farms participating in the water from the reclamation projects to be less than 320 acres for 1 individual and 640 for a husband and wife. At high elevation in Wyoming's cold, dry climate, a cattle ranch of that size is not profitable.. Most of the ranches in the area were quite a bit bigger. The Wyoming Congressional Delegation, led by Senator Frank Barrett, came to the rescue. They got a bill passed that exempted the Wyoming landowners from the acreage restrictions. Finally enough ranches joined the irrigation district to justify the project.
In 1957 work commenced on the dam. Problems started right away. The original site had to be abandoned when large fractures and small caves were found in the dolomite inter-beds within the Pennsylvanian Tensleep Sandstone. The dam location was moved some distance upstream to near the head of the canyon. As they dug into the canyon walls at the new site, 2 large caves were discovered. The cavities were filled using more than 2,000 cubic yards of concrete. Several similar cavities were found both on the canyon walls and in the soon to be flooded valley and they too were filled. After three years and a price tag of 3.4 Million Dollars the 208 foot-high dam was completed on Oct. 26, 1960. The project was $116,000 over budget.
The reservoir started to fill the following spring but within a few days it started to drain through previously unknown sinkholes and permeable fractures. The Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) moved to seal off the leaks by pumping cement or building levees around them. This pattern would be repeated over the next few years. Finally after a decade of attempted remediation, the final price tag exceed over 7 Million dollars. Fifty-four sinkholes had been plugged or levied off and yet still the reservoir leaked and held very little water. The BOR gave up! The final score: Earth1, Engineers 0. To this day the reservoir still holds a very little water.
What is amazing to me is how few people know this story. Very few residents of the Bighorn Basin are aware of the reservoir's failure. The campground is gone, picnic area is gone; boat ramp is gone and most of the BOR signs except for those saying "no trespassing" are gone. The lake did partially fill one particularly wet spring when inflow was greater than leak out. A photograph was taken, and of course, became the cover photo for BOR documents about the dam. Though they admitted in private and in internal memos that the project failed, BOR personnel covered the story up in public. The even classified the project as research so they could hide some of the expenditures from prying congressional and public eyes. It worked. A white elephant sits in the Anchor Anticline Canyon and no one seems to see it. A monument to good intentions and government waste!
These cattails are nearing the end of their cycle and will soon be replaced by green shoots, that grow incredibly fast. By the end of June, you won't be able to see through to Cherry Creek Reservoir and Cherry Creek Dam. The dam is an important flood control dam that prevents deadly flooding in downtown Denver. With all the deep snow in the mountains this year, we may need the dam to perform it's function, once again.
This photo is one of a series taken on our excursion to Pulau Ketam, or Crab Island, located off the west coast of Malaysia leaving from Port Klang. Most islanders live in homes built on stilts with their boats docked near their place of residence. Access used to be via boardwalks within the village but now most the boardwalks have been replaced with concrete walkways and the vehicle of choice seems to be small motor scooters. This picture is of one of the two Chinese temples on the island.
Land between the Ouzel river and the Grand Union Canal in Leighton Buzzard where flooding seems to have become near-permanent.
A flood control plan was implemented in this low lying area of the Grand River years ago comprised of a dyke with ball fields and huge pipes for the river to flow into as an overflow area when the river is in flood stage. This photo was taken two weeks after a day long rain. Notice how Mr and Mrs Mallard seem to be enjoying it.
Original Collection: Gerald W. Williams Collection, 1855-2007
Item Number: WilliamsG: SWVdamCOLOR
You can find this image by searching for the item number by clicking here.
Want more? You can find more digital resources online.
We're happy for you to share this digital image within the spirit of The Commons; however, certain restrictions on high quality reproductions of the original physical version may apply. To read more about what “no known restrictions” means, please visit the Special Collections & Archives website, or contact staff at the OSU Special Collections & Archives Research Center for details.
Caesar Creek is a tributary of the Little Miami River which is a tributary of the Ohio River. The Army Corps of Engineers built a flood control dam on Caesar Creek in the 1970's forming this reservoir in southwestern Ohio.
Span: Complejo hidroeléctrico Futaleufú.
Clic 2x para máx' ampliacion.
Engl: Futaleufú Hydroelectric Complex.
Click 2x for maximum enlargment.
Located several miles above Del Rio, Texas, Amistad Dam was dedicated in 1969. it's primary purpose is to provide flood control and water conservation. It is critical to regulation of water flow for the vast agriculture industry in the Lower Rio Grande Valley.
This photo is one of a series taken on our excursion to Pulau Ketam, or Crab Island, located off the west coast of Malaysia leaving from Port Klang. Most islanders live in homes built on stilts with their boats docked near their place of residence. Access used to be via boardwalks within the village but now most the boardwalks have been replaced with concrete walkways and the vehicle of choice seems to be small motor scooters. I visited there back in the 1960's. Then, it was a different place, less commercialized and few outsiders.
The Grand River, Ada Twp. Trail, Ada, Michigan USA
A pipe runs off the back of this box, down along the bridge column into the river. Solar powered and with what appears to be an antennae for data transmission.
Data from this system is available online here.
This is a creative commons image, which you may freely use by linking to this page. Please respect the photographer and his work.
(A small set of 4 images) Lake Wister, a reservoir in southeastern Oklahoma, was created with the damming of the Poteau River. Wister Dam, near Wister, Oklahoma in Le Flore County, is a federal earthen dam, 5700 feet in length with a height of 99 feet). Begun in April 1946, the dam was in full flood control effect by December 1949. It was constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at a cost of $10.5 million. Its authorization for flood control and conservation resulted from the Flood Control Act of 1938. I was unable to view the dam itself to visually verify length and height. There is this one structure, displaying in red the logo of the Army Corps of Engineers. The building dated 1948 has overtones of Art Deco, especially the lighting fixtures. Today the dam and lake are part of Lake Wister State Park.
Some relevant resources:
wister.lakesonline.com/Dam/25A1D7E8-39FB-42EB-AD8C-037F7A...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Wister
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_Control_Act_of_1938 (an incomplete article)
Lake Wister State Park Resource Management Plan 2010 (Updated April 2013) This pdf publication contains numerous photos pertaining to the park.
geog.okstate.edu/images/DOCS/RMP_GIS/2013-4_Lake_Wister_R...
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
Item Notes: This dam is on the North Santiam River. Average flow 1,764 second-feet. Maximum flow 65,000 second-feet. Drainage area at dam is 438 square miles.
Original Collection: Gerald W. Williams Collection, 1855-2007
Item Number: WilliamsG: SVdam2
You can find this image by searching for the item number by clicking here.
Want more? You can find more digital resources online.
We're happy for you to share this digital image within the spirit of The Commons; however, certain restrictions on high quality reproductions of the original physical version may apply. To read more about what “no known restrictions” means, please visit the Special Collections & Archives website, or contact staff at the OSU Special Collections & Archives Research Center for details.
For those who don't know: John B. Robert Dam (on a w i d e view from across the street) is a famous location from Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, and (tangentially) El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie. Sadly, the two pathetic cottonwoods at street level, where Ed the Disappearer would pick you up to escape your old life, are now gone.
This is near the top of the baffled spillway – that's what all those standing concrete structures are: baffles for water flow. Though nobody recalls water ever getting to the point of raging over the top to be baffled. Is the spillway 'baffled' to have never served its purpose...?
On the other side is a spillway-long, maybe 40-ft wide concrete platform that neighborhood kids love to ride bikes on, and where folk congregate on summer nights to play & watch sunsets. Beyond that is massive Bear Cañon Arroyo Open Space, a valley really, where rain channels off the Sandias to a culvert on the southwest corner into the City's flood diversion system.
On this day two little girls came up & showed me a baby lizard they'd caught and were happily petting.
Little Pine State Park is a Pennsylvania State Park in Cummings Township, Lycoming County, in Pennsylvania. It was flooded about a week before this picture was taken. You can see mud on the trees on the opposite bank and debris on the near grassy recreation area.
This photo is one of a series taken on our excursion to Pulau Ketam, or Crab Island, located off the west coast of Malaysia leaving from Port Klang. Most islanders live in homes built on stilts with their boats docked near their place of residence. Access used to be via boardwalks within the village but now most the boardwalks have been replaced with concrete walkways and the vehicle of choice seems to be small motor scooters. I visited there back in the 1960's. Then, it was a different place, less commercialized and few outsiders.
The planning and effort to keep the floodwaters from overtaking the city last week was heroic. Find out more about it through this Urban Sketchers post www.urbansketchers.org/2016/09/keeping-floodwater-out.htm.... September 24, 2016
With your eagle eye you may spot the soccer ball on top of the tower-like structure. Gawd help the whole town if water ever gets high enough to flow into those grates.
Normally, like similar 'Burque dams around town, most runoff when it does occur goes into unassuming channels and culverts you may not even notice around the installation. In fact, notably without trepidation over potential drowning, that's a soccer field at the upper right in the neighboring basin just south of this area.
Location: Kinney Dam, Albuquerque, New Mexico 3:28pm
Albuquerque Mayor Harry Kinney (1974-77 and 1981-1985) played major roles in acquiring for the City the former Elena Gallegos Land Grant acreage where this namesake dam is situated.
So I took a walk on a gloomy Saturday afternoon, but it turned out rather well -- even though I collected a large number of cockleburs.
This 400 acre park, centered around this pond on the windward side of Oahu, is actually a flood control project built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to protect Kane'ohe. It features many botanical gardens of lush tropical plants and several walking trails. Unlike most things in Hawaii, entrance is FREE.
The plant is most likely ragweed, or possibly a type of globemallow. Meanwhile that's a water filtering structure back there in the dam basin; and the Sandia Mountains ("Sandia" = "watermelon" in Spanish) bordering 'Burque's east side, on the horizon.
Location: Kinney Dam, Albuquerque, New Mexico 3:36pm
Albuquerque Mayor Harry Kinney (1974-77 and 1981-1985) played major roles in acquiring for the City the former Elena Gallegos Land Grant acreage where this namesake dam is situated.
This photo is one of a series taken on our excursion to Pulau Ketam, or Crab Island, located off the west coast of Malaysia leaving from Port Klang. Most islanders live in homes built on stilts with their boats docked near their place of residence. Access used to be via boardwalks within the village but now most the boardwalks have been replaced with concrete walkways and the vehicle of choice seems to be small motor scooters. This picture is of one of the two Chinese temples on the island.
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image by Photo George
copyrighted: ©2016 GCheatle
all rights reserved
locator: GAC_6566
This photo is one of a series taken on our excursion to Pulau Ketam, or Crab Island, located off the west coast of Malaysia leaving from Port Klang. Most islanders live in homes built on stilts with their boats docked near their place of residence. Access used to be via boardwalks within the village but now most the boardwalks have been replaced with concrete walkways and the vehicle of choice seems to be small motor scooters. I visited there back in the 1960's. Then, it was a different place, less commercialized and few outsiders.