Ford Lake Dam emergency spillway project

The Ford Lake Dam Hydroelectric Project is located in southeastern Michigan on the Huron River within the Charter Township of Ypsilanti in Washtenaw County, Michigan. The Project was designed by Henry Ford and constructed between May 1931and July 1932. The Ford Motor Company owned and operated the Project, which provided all of the electrical energy required to operate Ford’s Ypsilanti plant during its early years. By 1969, Ford’s Ypsilanti plant grew such that the Project could only meet 25% of the plant’s electrical demands. In July 1969, the Ford Motor Company gift-deeded the Ford Lake Dam Hydroelectric Project and the adjoining lake property to the City and Township of Ypsilanti. Operation of the generating units was suspended in August 1969 due to disrepair. The Project remained idle until May 1974. At that time sufficient repair work had been completed and electrical generation was resumed with the 640 KVA generator and electrical energy transmitted under contract to the Ford Motor Company Ypsilanti plant. Reconditioning of the 1600 KVA generator was completed in March 1976 and it was also put into operation. The Project was owned, operated and maintained by the Joint Ypsilanti Recreation Organization from July 1969 to January 1989 when ownership was transferred to the Charter Township of Ypsilanti, which continues to own and operate the Project today. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) classifies the Ford Lake Hydroelectric Project as a “high hazard potential dam”. This classification requires the Project to have sufficient discharge capacity to accommodate the probable maximum flood (PMF). Based on the results of the 1993 Wisconsin-Michigan Probable Maximum Precipitation Report (Ref. 1) and the flood routing performed as part of 1991 Consultant’s Safety Inspection (CSI) Report, Addendum No. 2 (Ref. 2), the PMF was set at 28,000 cubic feet per second (cfs). The discharge capacity of the spillway structure was calculated to be 20,600 cfs. In June 1993, FERC required the Township to submit a plan for increasing the discharge capacity of the Project. The evaluation of alternatives began in June 1998 and the auxiliary spillway conceptual design was submitted to FERC in March 1999. Final design of the project began in June 1999. FERC approved the project in July 2000 and construction began in August 2000. The Ford Lake Dam Emergency Spillway Project was completed in June 2001. This paper presents a summary of the Ford Lake Dam Hydroelectric Project, hydraulic evaluation, auxiliary/emergency spillway alternatives, emergency spillway design and construction, and operational characteristics. 15 pp., 17 references, 7 photos, 5 tables, 6 figures.