Louisville, KY -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Louisville District Dam Safety Office is wrapping up some preliminary dam investigations at two dams in the upper Wabash area. The additional field study and sampling at J.E. Roush Lake dam and the Salamonie Lake dam will continue through March.

The samples and test results will be used to perform further engineering evaluations and be compared to existing data. The Corps’ contractor, Amec Earth and Environmental (along with subcontractors Tri-State Drilling and Boart-Longyear), is currently at Salamonie Dam, and will then shift operations to J.E. Roush Dam.

Visitors to the area may have observed equipment on the dam used to take subsurface borings. The original testing and field work began in Fiscal Year 2007.

Through its dam safety program, the Army Corps of Engineers has observed seepage areas at the Roush and Salamonie dam projects at higher pool events. Although dams typically seep, the additional seepage areas at higher pools, and similar geologic formations to the nearby Mississinewa dam, warrant closer evaluation of the current subsurface conditions to verify the nature of this increased seepage.

Louisville District engineers annually inspect all their regional reservoir dams. A more intensive team inspection occurs every five years through the Dam Safety program. Through these on-going inspections and evaluations of instrumentation readings from the dams, Salamonie and Roush lakes received funding for further subsurface exploration and study.

Prudent management of these dams includes an increase in field and instrument monitoring during higher pools when additional seepage areas have been observed at these sites.

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