Projects
Cork Center Dam
Project Details
Location: City of Johnstown, New York
Client: Greenman-Pedersen, Inc., Albany, New York
Client Contact: Mr. Eric Thorkildsen,
518-453-9431
Project Gallery
The Cork Center Storage Reservoir Dam is a 49-foot high by 460-foot long earth fill, hazard class
C, embankment dam with a concrete core and impounds a reservoir with a surface area of
approximately 41 acres. The dam was constructed across the valley containing Kecks Center
Creek, a tributary to the Mohawk River. The confluence of Kecks Center Creek and the Mohawk
River is approximately 7.5 miles southeast of the site in the Town of Fonda, New York.
The dam has a concrete intake tower located approximately 75 feet upstream of its upstream
shoreline. The reservoir is approximately 30 feet deep at the tower. The intake tower houses the
inlet of a 24-inch cast-iron pipe that directs water below the dam to a gatehouse located
downstream of the dam.
McMahon & Mann completed a dam safety inspection, subsurface explorations, and laboratory and field tests
to measure the properties of the foundation soil and the groundwater levels in the embankment.
The subsurface work included installing standpipe piezometers to allow measurements of the
groundwater level in the dam fill at various times of the year. The information obtained from the
geotechnical investigation provided the data used to evaluate the seepage conditions and complete
the stability analyses of the embankment.
McMahon & Mann prepared a Dam Safety Inspection Report and sections of the Engineering Assessment
Report pertaining to geotechnical issues. We also identified deficiencies in the dam and
prepared recommendations for remediation to bring the dam into compliance with current NYSDEC
Guidelines.