Engineers look inside Gathright Dam during bi-annual inspection

Step inside a 257 foot U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Dam as engineers perform their bi-annual inspection.

Just miles from the West Virginia, Virginia stateline in the blue ridge mountains sits Gathright Dam quietly holding back the flow of water from the Jackson River.

"It's an earth filled dam, you can see the outer shell is rock, the next layer in is smaller stone then a gravel type and impervious clay core center."

The 257 foot dam has been in place for more than thirty years and over that span it has protected communities downstream from damaging floods, and has created one of the best trout fishing spots in Virginia.

"Fish do spawn in there and reproduce naturally because of the water quality."
In order to ensure the safety of the communities downstream engineers from the Corps of Engineers perform inspections twice a year.

Each time they dawn their gear.

(Nat Sounds, putting boots on and gathering equipment.)

and venture into exploratory addits along the side of the dam. And eventually...

(Nat Sound Shutting down the dam) (Audio from inside the tunnel)

They venture into the outflow tunnel which typically has 180 cubic feet a second of water running through it.

"Shutting down the dam allows inspectors to climb inside and get a visual look to see how well the dam is holding up."
"Basically we just look for scaring on the walls, any damage inside and just monitor the drains"
The dam is only shut down long enough for engineers to get their visual inspections completed so that businesses downstream who rely on a constant flow of water aren't impacted.
A process that has been completed time and time again with what engineers consider a successful result.
"The trends we have seen there has been no unexpected changes."
A finding that doesn't surprise dam supervisor Bill Siple who helped to build the dam as a contractor.
"It was built right and it is here to stand the test of time and it will take whatever we put in here against it."
From Covington Virginia, Patrick Bloodgood ... (more info)

Category:

Science & Technology

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• NAOonYouTube
• Dam
• Gathright
• Safety
• Alleghany County
• USACE
• Army Corps of Engineers
• Virginia
• Covington
• Flood Control