Handling a Dam at Risk of Imminent Collapse


If a dam is almost certain to fail, should it be intentionally breached, or should we wait for it to fail naturally?

Soil Mechanics / Geotechnical Research Dams & Embankments

Asked 25/09/2025 15:23, updated: 8 days ago, 19:02

1 Answer

Votes: 0

JOSE MARTIN ZORRILLA

We had a similar problem when an extraordinary flood occurred due to exceptional rainfall. We built a drainage channel alongside the dam to partially empty it before the peak flood arrived, thus mitigating the surge and supplementing the dam's spillway with this new channel.

After this event, we reinforced the irrigation dam, and it continues to operate to this day.