Impacts to Safety of Dams Work in Arizona from the 1993 Flood

As 1993 began, El Nino generated a series of storms over Arizona resulting in 6.1 inches of rain and snow which deluged the State, beginning January 1, 1993. This was 5.25 inches more than the norm for this arid climate. The U. S. Bureau of Reclamation had three major Dam construction and modification projects underway at the time; New Waddell Dam, a new 300 foot high eatth and rockfill dam on the Agua Fria River; Coolidge Dam Safety of Dams Modifications on the Gila River and; Roosevelt Dam Safety of Dams Modifications on the Salt River. All three jobs were heavily impacted by the resulting floods. Coolidge Dam, a multiple dome concrete dam on the Gila River was regarded as the unsafest dam in the West. This Bureau of Indian Affairs Dam was completed in 1928 and forms a reservoir of 890,000 acre feet (a.f.) on the San Carlos Indian Reservation, providing irrigation water to Indian and Non-Indian land downstream, as well as power generation. Cont.