SALUDA DAM REMEDIATION

Saluda Dam, owned and operated by South Carolina Electric and Gas (SCE&G), is a 7,800 ft. long, 211 ft. high earthen dam built in the 1930’s. The Dam is located just upstream of Columbia, South Carolina, and impounds the Saluda River to form Lake Murray, a leading source of water, electric power, and recreation for the city of Columbia. The Saluda Dam Remediation Project was first proposed in 1989 after a seismic evaluation of the dam. A subsequent subsurface investigation confirmed that the dam would be at risk during a large earthquake Engineers realized that an earthquake similar to the catastrophic quake of 1886 that shook Charleston could liquefy the dam soils and put 120,000 people plus local economy at risk. In order to safeguard the area from potential harm by a dam failure, SCE&G and the design engineer Paul C Rizzo Associates, Inc. proposed the idea of a backup dam. The construction project includes placement of 1.3 million cubic yards (2,300 ft. long) of roller-compacted concrete in the center of the dam in between the original dam and existing water/electric plants at the toe of the dam. In addition, 3.5 million cubic yards of rock fill will be used to make up a 5,500 ft. long section of berm on the north and south ends of the dam. A large excavation will be created at the toe of the existing dam to provide a suitable foundation for the earth and concrete backup dam.