Dam Failures

If we didn't create them , we sure as eggs were called in to  fix them .

I 'm not here to tell you all about mine,  but to scan the wider plan of disaster and semi disaster land .
Bank and waterway work was everyday stuff for the crew of the old Soil Conservation Service . Water planning was so much part of soil planning, that the original conservation act was changed to incorporate both ...... 
We built some great dams on the way.  And starting from behind,  some one else mistakes was a great way to learn .
Strangely having had engineers advice on various jobs ( take this one at a Coal mine and the irrigation valley wall at Timboon) |






I am sure not  many of these 13 metre high walls across valleys  would meet engineering standards .. We know because the Engineers who advised us ( and the CCMA ) walked away .
But the works  are still there and under control .
The biggest cost to properly rebuild this wall was to remove the rubbish that was used to build it ( just spoil) The owner and I found a way , use natural and man made erosion and now the wall has almost gone ( the left  side is back to regolith . still some challenges ahead but most of the cost of repair has been removed by tapping  natural forces and not fuel resources. .

This 13 metre  high wall  at Timboon. ( not shown yet )




Kraznozems got the attention of some of our blokes  . David  , Barry and I got to talking about chicken shit and the chemistry ( as we loved to do )
TPP was the best thing as it took up the calcium and released Na .
Ash of various kinds works too but can't remember how - only practicals need to know a way to store water and not sodium ;  working for good and ill in growing mediums all around the world .
The three of us  had fun talking about Barry' dangerous dams projects --- cannot tell you sorry !we too would be in jail .

Yes we stopped a few bottoms from leaking ( not all) and walls from falling over . With beaver like intent David would do some chemical and physical test analysis and make a recommendation  , We stopped a few walls from falling over by quickly lowering the spillways when the  inevitable slumping occurred on walls  too high and too narrow. ( lots of those )

We thought we were cleaver putting 3:1 on inside and 2:1 outside when in fact us and others did it often the other way around . Either way our approach was like nearly everything we did ;  in line with the high risk activity of our clients ,

More if you want to add some