Nolin Lake Dam to receive preliminary investigation

Published Feb. 11, 2008

Louisville, KY -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Louisville District will initiate preliminary subsurface explorations at Nolin River Dam. The work will begin in late February with an exploratory drilling and laboratory testing program and continue through the spring.

Through its Dam Safety Program, the Louisville District annually inspects all its reservoir dams. A more intensive multi-discipline team inspection occurs every five years. These inspections and USACE’s recent screening of the project determined this dam will be a candidate for additional study to take a closer look at the dam’s subsurface conditions. Further investigation will be done to ensure the most up-to-date dam safety data is available to assess current conditions of the approximately 40-year old dam.

The exploration programs consist of drilling small diameter holes into the ground and retrieving soil and rock samples for laboratory testing. Additional instrumentation to monitor water levels within the rock foundation of the dam will also be installed. The collected samples, test results and new instrumentation data will be compared to existing data and used to perform engineering evaluations. 

Visitors to the area may observe equipment on the dam used to advance subsurface borings. The Corps anticipates minor traffic disruption with temporary lane closure on KY 728 during a portion of the work.  The Van Meter boat ramp area at the dam may be closed for short periods of time throughout the exploration process.  All work is expected to be complete prior to the busy recreation season and should have little impact to visitors.

What’s Next?
Samplings from the explorations are expected to be complete during 2008 with additional engineering evaluations to follow.  Periodic updates will be released as study information becomes available.


Release no. 08-002

News Releases (Hidden - Presorted LRD list)

Nolin Lake Dam to receive preliminary investigation

Published Feb. 11, 2008

Louisville, KY -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Louisville District will initiate preliminary subsurface explorations at Nolin River Dam. The work will begin in late February with an exploratory drilling and laboratory testing program and continue through the spring.

Through its Dam Safety Program, the Louisville District annually inspects all its reservoir dams. A more intensive multi-discipline team inspection occurs every five years. These inspections and USACE’s recent screening of the project determined this dam will be a candidate for additional study to take a closer look at the dam’s subsurface conditions. Further investigation will be done to ensure the most up-to-date dam safety data is available to assess current conditions of the approximately 40-year old dam.

The exploration programs consist of drilling small diameter holes into the ground and retrieving soil and rock samples for laboratory testing. Additional instrumentation to monitor water levels within the rock foundation of the dam will also be installed. The collected samples, test results and new instrumentation data will be compared to existing data and used to perform engineering evaluations. 

Visitors to the area may observe equipment on the dam used to advance subsurface borings. The Corps anticipates minor traffic disruption with temporary lane closure on KY 728 during a portion of the work.  The Van Meter boat ramp area at the dam may be closed for short periods of time throughout the exploration process.  All work is expected to be complete prior to the busy recreation season and should have little impact to visitors.

What’s Next?
Samplings from the explorations are expected to be complete during 2008 with additional engineering evaluations to follow.  Periodic updates will be released as study information becomes available.


Release no. 08-002