Fix for Wolf Creek Dam to Top $400 Million

By Bill Estep, The Lexington Herald-Leader, Ky.

Jul. 24–The federal agency that manages Lake Cumberland has awarded a $341.4 million contract for a massive concrete wall to seal off leaks at Wolf Creek Dam.

The contract calls for completing the work in four years. That means if construction starts this fall as anticipated, the wall should be done by the fall of 2012, said David Hendrix, manager of the project for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The corps had earlier estimated the wall would cost about $309 million to build, but that estimate was from more than two years ago. Higher prices, notably for fuel and cement, account for the increased contract cost, he said.

The entire project to fix the dam will have cost more than $400 million by the time it’s finished. The price tag for pumping grout into the dam to stem leaks on an emergency basis, which has been going on since last year, will come in at about $60 million, Hendrix said.

Those totals don’t include engineering and design work and other costs of the project.

Treviicos Corp. and Soletanche Bachy submitted the winning proposal to do the work as a joint venture. Both are among the leading companies in the world that do the kind of work needed at the dam, Hendrix said.

Treviicos is an Italian company and Soletanche Bachy is a French company, but both work around the globe and have subsidiary headquarters in the United States. The contract was awarded in the name of Treviicos Soletanche JV, the corps said.

U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers said both companies have a long history of dam rehabilitation and construction work, and have done other projects for the corps.

“Shoring up Wolf Creek Dam for boaters and fishermen, lake-dependent businesses, hydropower, and water-strapped communities is of utmost importance, and I am pleased to see a decision on the wall contract,” Rogers said in a statement.

Seeping water

The wall is needed because water is seeping through voids in the rock underneath the dam, potentially undermining the mile-long structure. The dam was finished in the early 1950s to create the giant lake in southern Kentucky.

In January 2007, the corps decided to quickly lower the surface level of the lake to take pressure off the dam while beginning repairs. The leaks create a risk that the dam will fail; if it did, there could be billions of dollars in damage downstream and possibly dozens of deaths.

However, federal officials have stressed that the dam is not at imminent risk of failure, and that monitoring systems are in place to provide ample warning of an impending breach so that people could get to safety.

The work to drill holes into the rock beneath the dam and inject liquid has stemmed leaks and made the dam safer, corps officials have said.

Contractors have pumped nearly 840,000 gallons of grout into the dam so far.

The new wall — essentially a dam within a dam — is designed to be a longer-term solution. Contractors will build it inside the earthen section of the dam and join it to the existing concrete part of the structure, which houses the hydroelectric generators.

The wall will be 4,200 feet long, 275 feet deep and at least 2 feet wide at all points.

The corps installed a similar wall in the 1970s to cut off leaks, but it apparently wasn’t built deep enough to get down to more solid rock. The new $341 million wall will go 50 feet deeper than the old one, Hendrix said.

Regional tourism down

The lake is the centerpiece of the regional tourism economy, generating an estimated annual spending of about $150 million.

The decision to lower the water level last year caused some visitors to stay away. Visits for 2007 were down more than 11 percent from 2006; many marinas and lake-area businesses said their revenue dropped 30 percent or more.

Even at the lower level, however, the lake still has 38,000 surface acres, making it the third-largest lake in the state. Visitors have gotten used to the lower water level, and say it makes for interesting scenery and good boating.

Still, many people would like to see a higher lake level. The corps might raise the surface level 5 to 10 feet when the emergency grouting is completed, though that isn’t certain.

It was welcome news to many in lake country that the corps had awarded a contract designed to end leaks at the dam.

“I’ll be glad when things get back to normal,” said James Flatt, general manager at Indian Hills Resort-Alligator 2 Marina in Russell County.

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