Projects
DeRuyter Dam
Project Gallery
The DeRuyter Reservoir Dam is owned by the State of New York under the jurisdiction of the New York State Canal Corporation (NYSCC). The DeRuyter Dam is located at the north end of the DeRuyter Reservoir near the Towns of New Woodstock and Fabius, NY. This dam is classified by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) as a large, Class C, High Hazard dam. Bergmann Associates and McMahon & Mann teamed to complete a dam safety inspection and engineering assessment for the dam in 2012, as required by NYCRR Part 673.16.
DeRuyter Dam was built in the years 1861-63. The dam’s original construction is an embankment of random, largely silty, fill. Prior to a rehabilitation in the 1950’s, seepage including some piping and slope failures occurred at the dam. In the early 1950’s a major rehabilitation and stabilization effort was undertaken that included installing an internal drainage system and constructing an earthen buttress against much of the downstream embankment slope. Maintenance work on the drainage system was completed in the late 1980’s.
McMahon & Mann completed 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 in the embankment soils to allow measurements of the groundwater level in the dam fill at various times of the year. The conditions of the embankment drainage system were also evaluated. 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 and Bergmann prepared an Engineering Assessment Report that included the results of the safety inspection, the hydrologic and hydraulic analyses, and the stability and seepage analyses.