San Vicente: The world's largest dam heightening using RCC

The San Diego County Water Authority (Water Authority) is heightening San Vicente dam to increase its water supply storage capacity for the San Diego region, California, US. Heightening of the dam is preferred over building a new structure. The final selection was made based on a comprehensive analysis of more than 50 options, including the construction of new dams, heightening existing dams, and re-operation of reservoirs. The expansion would minimize overall costs, because each meter of dam raise would result in a relatively higher increase in storage capacity at a nominal cost. The RCC method was selected to increase the height of San Vicente dam both to meet technical requirements and to achieve cost efficiency. Many factors were considered in the selection of an appropriate method for heightening the San Vicente dam. These included the dam axis, site geology, availability of aggregates, concrete and foundation properties, RCC advancement, the owner's experience with RCC, interface treatment and operational requirements.