Dam Failure Case Study: Little Deer Creek (Utah, 1963)

Little Deer Creek Dam, located 52 miles east of Salt Lake City, Utah, was intended to capture spring runoff for irrigation use throughout the summer. The dam and reservoir would provide water to the South Kamas – Washington Irrigation Company utilizing the Duchesne Tunnel, a trans-basin diversion. The dam was designed to hold 1,450 acre-feet of water with a height of 75 feet. On the morning of June 16, 1963, during its first filling, the dam failed releasing 1,200 acre-feet of water downstream. The failure cost thousands of dollars in property damage, but more critically, resulted in the lost life of a young boy whose family was camping downstream.

The dam likely failed because of internal erosion at the right abutment, exacerbated by poor construction. The failure is testimony of the need for onsite inspection and testing during construction, monitoring during initial filling, and the vital importance of emergency action plans.