Lawn Lake Dam: Pre-Failure Comprehensive Dam Safety Evaluation and Post Failure Impacts

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Lawn Lake Dam, located in Rocky Mountain National Park failed suddenly and catastrophically on a sunny day in July 1982, and resulted in over $30 million dollars in damage and the loss of 3 lives. This webinar will explore the history of the dam, construction features responsible for the failure, the failure event and emergency response, the long legal process to assign liability for the failure and the overall impacts to the Town of Estes Park and its citizens, the Colorado Dam Safety Branch, and the National Park Service.

Five Learning Objectives Of This Course:

  • Internal Erosion Potential Failure Modes (PFM's)
  • Latent Physical Conditions at dams that results in PFM's
  • Dam Failure Investigations and Forensic Reporting
  • Preparing State and Federal Dam Safety Programs to pro-actively mitigate PFM's
  • Learning from the dam failure experiences of the past to be better prepared for the future

Bill McCormick, P.E.

Chief of Dam Safety, Colorado Dam Safety Branch

Bill McCormick holds a bachelors degree in Geology and bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Geological Engineering. He is a licensed Professional Engineer and a Professional Geologist in the state of Colorado.  He has over 28 years of professional experience as geologist, engineering geologist and civil engineer involved with design, construction and regulation of water projects in Colorado and Nevada. He has been with the Colorado Division of Water Resources for the past 14 years and as Chief of the Colorado Dam Safety Branch since 2011.  Bill and his award winning team of dam safety engineers have responsibility for developing and executing a comprehensive dam safety risk management program for all dams in the state of Colorado in the interest of public safety.  Bill currently serves as Secretary of the ASDSO Board of Directors.

Mark E. Baker, P.E.

Comprehensive Dam Safety Evaluation (CDSE)

Welcome to the 1981 Comprehensive Dam Safety Evaluation for Lawn Lake Dam

Introductions (Stakeholders)

Introduction to the CDSE Process

Flow Chart review of process

Description of Dam – Existing Information document gathering/review

          Location description

Site Geology

Design and Construction history

Hazard Classification

Inspection History

Performance History

Potential Failure Mode Brainstorming

          Loadings

                    Static

                    Seismic

                    Hydrologic

          Key Dam Components and Likely PFMs

                    Foundation

                    Embankment

                    Outlet works

                    Spillway

PFM Screening

Positive Factors – Factors that make it a less likely failure mode

Adverse Factors – Factors that make it a more Likely Failure Mode

Remote PFM(s)

PFM(s) to bring forward

Event Trees

Initiation

Continuation

Progression

Intervention

Failure/Breach

Consequences

          Map Review

          Level 1,2,3,4

F-N Chart

Risk driving failure modes - 

Likelihood

Confidence/Uncertainty

Making the Case

Recommended risk reduction measures - next actions

          Investigation

Mitigation

          Emergency Preparation

Questions

The Failure of Lawn Lake Dam and Post-Failure Impacts

The failure event

Emergency response and recovery

Forensic Investigation

Legal

Policy changes (State)

Policy Changes/Dam removals (NPS)

Lessons Learned

Physical Factors - CDSE

Human Factors

Consequences

Emergency Preparation

Questions

Wrap up and Takeaways

Key:

Complete
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On- Demand Webinar
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Post Survey
5 Questions
5 Questions Post Survey
Completion Quiz
10 Questions  |  3 attempts  |  6/10 points to pass
10 Questions  |  3 attempts  |  6/10 points to pass
Completion Certificate
2.00 PDH credits  |  Certificate available
2.00 PDH credits  |  Certificate available