Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1903-08-08
CAUSE OF DAM FAILURES.
If Proper Designs Are Used There Is
No Need of Disaster Following
a Cloudburst.

If the proper person is intrusted with
its design, and the proper materials and
methods are used in its construction, a
reservoir or dam can be made just as
secure as any other of the important
works that minister 20 the daily wants
of the public. Nevertheless, ii the nor
NAL processes of nature (well known and
easily provided for at the time of con-
strucuonl should wreck u poorly-built
Dam. and few score of the community
ne wiped ont of existence, we write it
iowa as the act of God" give the unfor-
Inmates decent burial. and proceed TO
nulld other structures which only require
Ike conditions t--cloudburst>." as they
are popularity called TO produce like
calamity.
Now. as a matter of fact, a cloud
burst is simply a heavy and sudden rain
fall of the kind that has been occurring
lhtefmlttently for untold ages in the past.
ana that IS liable to occur On any spring
or summers day for ages to come. This
being so, when we SET about building our
dams, We ought to build them strong
enough to withaand not merely the ordi-
nary rainfall, but the excessive one. II
me dam be thus built. the so-cailed cloud
burst VIII hill the reservoir with surplus
water which will flow harmleSsly over
It's crest. on through the adjacent spill
way; and cloudburStS will no longer be
commemorated by anywhere from a doZ-
en- to one hundred gravestones in the
nel2hboring churchyard
considering the awful possibilities of
loss OF human life that depend upon dam
construction. it is astonishing what crude
methods are adopted in building many
OF the reservoirs. big and little. that are
scattered throughout the water sheds of
the country. Indeed. the wonder is not
FsA fail l.s.a
rather that there are 50 few. for the
question of failure of maay of them is
merefF a question of the occurrence of
one of those unusually heavy precipita-
tons. such as recently occurred with
shocking loss OF life at 0akfard Park.
Pa. There Is no possible excuse for
faulty dam construction. OF the more
important engineering works il is the
one ADORE all others that demands the
services of a qualified expert botn for
drawing up the original design and
experimenting the construction. 1t il
little short of Il crime to allow excessive
regard for economy "a determine eth.
the form of a dam or the nature of the
materials that are built into il. and where
shadow of doubt exists as to the Sc
enrity of one system of construction over
another. it is the bounden duty of the
authorities IL choose the obviously safer
type. even II such choice involves Il con-
siderable increase in the cost. 4 com
mendable instance Of this course OF ac-
ton may now be witnessed ut the
Croton Dam. where over half 4
million dollars is being spent in making a
change in the structure which will reCder
it secure beyond all peradveature of a
doubt. As rule. the weakest feature in
the smaller dams (among which most of
the disasters Occurt is the spilway, upon
which falls the important duty of carry
ing away the surplus waters of Il heavy
Observation-Disclosures if you Will Al
though these spillWays are able To carry
away the food waters of one hundred
ordinary rain storms. they cannot deal
with the one hundred and first: and the
surplus waters, seeking an outlet. flow
over the crest of the dam itself. washing
away the toe of the embankment and
bringing about the inevitable collapse.
Ii was in this way that the .TonuStown
disaster occurred; and an investigation
ut existing dams throughout the country,
particularly of the smaller dams that
were not constructed under expert SUPER
vision wc1id probably show that the
area of the spillways in numerous cases
is Sutticient.-Scieutifc American.