Repair of Lake Blackshear Dam

Tropical Storm Alberto produced record rainfall in central Georgia in early July, 1994. The area drains into the Flint River which flows southward through southwest Georgia and into Lake Seminole, the Apalachicola River and eventually to the Gulf of Mexico. Lake Blackshear is formed in the Flint River by Lake Blackshear Dam about 20 miles north of Albany, Georgia. The lake rose 11.5 feet above the normal level and caused the worst flooding of the area in recorded history. The north embankment of the dam was overtopped, causing a 700 foot wide breach. This paper discusses the events leading up to the breach, as well as engineering and construction aspects of the remedial repairs which were substantially complete by the end of July, 1995. Construction of the remediation included a 2,400 foot long cement-bentonite (CB) cutoff wall and additional spillway capacity in the form of a lower embankment crest armored with a concrete cap. 10 pp., 7 references.