North Fork Reservoir Auxiliary Spillway Ribbon Cutting
An Award-Winning Dam Improvement Project
On October 20, 2021, McGill attended the North Fork Reservoir in Asheville, North Carolina for a ribbon cutting ceremony in celebration of the completed dam improvements.
When the dam at the North Fork Reservoir was built in 1955, it was in line with the industry standards, but as technology advanced in science and engineering, the expectations and best practices evolved. The City of Asheville recognized this, and along with consultants from Schnabel Engineering, was proactive in bringing in top engineers from across the region to ensure that their water source and infrastructure remained protected.
The planned modifications at the North Fork Reservoir included raising the dam by four feet, improving the principal spillway, adding an auxiliary spillway, modifying the raw water piping through the dam and to the water treatment plant, and earth buttressing to reinforce the main dam and saddle dam for seismic stability. The end goals of these modifications were to add capacity to the reservoir, enable the dam to better handle inflow from adverse weather events, and meet updated state regulatory requirements.
Key Elements for the Dam Rehabilitation
McGill worked on many key elements of this project throughout the past several years. Our team provided field survey services, erosion control design and permitting, and mechanical and electrical design of several project components. Our water and wastewater engineers designed the improvements to the 36-inch raw water line and 30-inch drain line that extend through the dam and to the treatment plant and stream discharge, respectively. This included the design of a new structure to provide access to the conduit vault that was lengthened through the new embankment, so plant staff had safer and easier access to the lines, sample taps, chemical feed taps, etc.
In addition, our team designed a floating intake system with diesel-driven pumps that could provide up to 22 MGD of raw water to the plant. This design also included a temporary chemical feed system for adding pre-treatment chemicals while the temporary intake was in use.
This dam improvement project was awarded Rehabilitation Project of the Year by the Association of State Dam Safety Officials. McGill is always honored to be a part of projects that contribute to the safety of citizens and success of businesses in the City of Asheville and across the Southeast.
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