Case Studies

Palagnedra Dam was constructed between 1950 and 1952 on the Melezza River located in the country of Switzerland. Palagnedra Dam is a 72-meter tall, 120-meter long, concrete gravity arch dam, primarily constructed for hydropower.

In 2024, the upper three to five feet of the Panguitch Lake Dam was damaged by ice, raising concern of an uncontrolled release of the upper portion of the reservoir. A coordinated effort by local, state, and federal officials; engineers; emergency responders; and the community prevented the release of the reservoir and provides an example of the effective use of an emergency action plan.

Penn Forest Dam was constructed between 1956 and 1958 to be one of the main water supply reservoirs for the city of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The dam was originally an earthfill embankment structure, stood 145 feet high, 1,930 feet long, and stored 6.4 billion gallons of water...

Prospect Reservoir Dam is owned by the Henrylyn Irrigation District (District) and is located in Weld County (County), Colorado approximately 40 miles northeast of Denver.  The District operates and maintains a fifty mile long canal system, 4 reservoirs, and several hundred miles of...

Quail Creek Reservoir, located in Washington County Utah, is an approximately 40,000 acre-feet water storage project for irrigation, municipal, and industrial use. Design of the project was completed in 1983 with construction beginning in November of that year. The project consisted of...

In early September 2012, a series of rainstorms moved across southwestern Utah. In the city of Santa Clara, a debris basin formed by the Santa Clara Dam had filled and drained during these storms without issue. On the morning of September 11, another rainstorm passed through the area.

Pioneers began settling in present-day Penrose in the early 1860’s. The Town of Penrose, Colorado is upstream of the confluence of Beaver Creek and the Arkansas River, located 25 miles west of Pueblo. Settlements began along the banks of Beaver Creek.

Sheffield Dam was built in late 1917 in a ravine referred to as Sycamore Canyon, north of the City of Santa Barbara, California. Constructed as a distribution reservoir for the Santa Barbara Municipal Water Department, the dam was named after Eugene Sheffield, one of the City’s first water commissioners...