SEEPAGE CONTROL REMEDIATION AT HODGES VILLAGE DAM,

OXFORD, MASSACHUSETTS
By Stephen W. Dunbar1 and Thomas C. Sheahan2

ABSTRACT: This paper presents a case study on embankment dam seepage problems encountered at one site
over the last 30 years and various remediation efforts. The Hodges Village Dam in Oxford, Mass. is part of an
extensive flood control network built and operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the Thames River
basin of Massachusetts and Connecticut. The dam consists of a relatively homogeneous and pervious sand and
gravel embankment on stratified glacial outwash sands, gravels, and cobbles. Because it was designed primarily
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as a run-of-the-river, flood control facility with no anticipated long-term pool storage, no significant seepage
control measures were ever constructed for the dam. This paper describes a series of seepage events that have
occurred at the dam starting in 1968 and continuing to 1993. Remediation efforts after each of the events are
described as are their effects on dam performance. The paper concludes that the past seepage problems at the
dam were caused by assumptions made about foundation soil conditions prior to dam construction, problematic
drains and relief wells that resulted in significant head buildups in their respective zones of influence, and
insufficient subsurface information prior to design and construction. Investigation and analyses of the dam
conducted after the 1993 event are presented, and plans are described for a seepage control remediation project
currently under construction.

INTRODUCTION a number of remedial seepage control measures, has provided

Early design of earth dams and dikes was based on empir-
ical knowledge almost exclusively. The cross sections of suc-
cessful dams were adopted with little regard for differences in
the character of constituent soils or geotechnical foundation
soils and/or rock. Today, designers still rely heavily on prior
experience and lessons learned, especially those learned from
less successful designs. However, now this empirical approach
is complemented extensively by state-of-the-art subsurface in-
vestigations, computer analyses to estimate slope stability and
seepage patterns, and in situ instrumentation during and after
construction to monitor soil and flow response. Experience and
extensive research by practicing experts like Arthur Casa-
grande, James Sherard, and Harry Cedergren, among others,
have given design engineers a better understanding of the com-
plex nature of seepage and effective seepage control measures.
Because much of this knowledge and computer technology
has evolved over the last 30 years, many older dams were
designed and built without the benefit of these more sophis-
ticated analyses. In addition, it is increasingly realized that
even small lapses in construction control, particularly in cru-
cial parts of embankment dams (e.g., near drains), can result
in significant problems that may not manifest themselves until
years later. Thus, throughout the United States and other parts
of the world, a large number of earth dams currently are in
service that have required remediation over the years to control
seepage problems.
This paper describes the case history of one earth dam that
has experienced seepage problems for about 30 years, the
Hodges Village Dam in Oxford, Mass. The dam was built in
1959 and is operated normally as a run-of-the river, flood con-
trol facility with no permanent pool. Despite relatively pervi-
ous dam and foundation soils, no embankment or foundation
seepage control measures were constructed for the original
dam.The dam’s response during high pool events, as well as
1
Engrg. Mgr., U.S. Army Corps of Engrs., New England Dist., Con-
cord, MA 01742.
2
Assoc. Prof., Dept. of Civ. and Envir. Engrg., Northeastern Univ.,
Boston, MA 02115. E-mail: tsheahan@col.neu.edu
Note. Discussion open until August 1, 1999. To extend the closing
date one month, a written request must be filed with the ASCE Manager
of Journals. The manuscript for this paper was submitted for review and
possible publication on June 30, 1997. This paper is part of the Journal
of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, Vol. 125, No. 3,
March, 1999. 䉷ASCE, ISSN 1090-0241/99/0003-0198 – 0206/$8.00 ⫹
$.50 per page. Paper No. 16097.
198 / JOURNAL OF GEOTECHNICAL AND GEOENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING / MARCH 1999
many lessons on the design of such measures, particularly
when a number of these efforts fell short of fully remediating
the seepage problems. Current design plans for long-term
seepage control are presented, including a number of alterna-
tives that were ruled out for this dam, but may be options at
other sites. Because this paper is intended to focus on the case
history, basic background information on seepage conditions
and remediation measures is not presented. Such information
can be found in a number of other comprehensive references
[e.g., U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (1986) and Cedergren
(1989)].
SITE CONDITIONS AT HODGES VILLAGE DAM
The Hodges Village Dam in Oxford, Mass. was completed
in December 1959 on the French River and is part of the flood
protection system for the Thames River basin (Fig. 1). Nor-
mally, a run-of-the-river dam, usually it has no permanent
pool. It is 16.6 m (54.5 ft) high at its highest point, 652.3 m
(2,140 ft) in length, and at the spillway crest [10.8 m (35.5 ft)
stage] it would retain a 299.5 ha (740 acre) reservoir extending
4.8 km (3 mi) upstream; this is equivalent to 1634.4 ha-m
(13,250 acre-ft; Fig. 2). The embankments primarily are a ho-
mogeneous sand and gravel with a downstream rockfill shell.
The foundation materials are stratified glacial outwash deposits
that are described in detail in the following paragraphs. De-
spite the presence of relatively pervious soils, there were no
embankment or foundation seepage control features con-
structed as part of the original dam. From project records, this
lack of seepage control measures appears to be caused by the
assumptions made and the results of a 1956 seepage analysis
used for dam design. The dam embankment and foundation
soils were assumed to be primarily silty sands and silty gravels
and did not account for much more pervious foundation soils
(so-called ‘‘open-work gravels’’ described later) discovered in
later subsurface investigations. This earlier seepage analysis
also assumed a 4:1 ratio of horizontal to vertical permeability,
when in fact the ratio was later found to be closer to 10:1
(U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 1995).
The overall profile of Figs. 3(a and b) is divided into two
separate reaches by a buried bedrock ridge near station 10⫹00
[Fig. 3(a)]. From station 3⫹10 to 11⫹00 (across the old river
channel), materials consist of well-graded sandy gravels, with
less than 10% silt and numerous cobbles and boulders, over-
lying bedrock. From station 11⫹00 to 24⫹50, a deep pre-

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FIG. 1. Map of Thames River Basin and Flood Control Measures [after U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (1995)]

glacial valley is present below the low dam embankment sec-
tion and left abutment peninsula (Fig. 4). This peninsula is a
natural protrusion from the eastern slope of the valley, partially
covering the valley itself. It is in the upper layer overlying this
preglacial valley that the most serious seepage problems oc-
curred (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 1995).
Referring to the soil profile of Fig. 3(a) and its continuation
in Fig. 3(b), the foundation deposits beneath the dam em-
bankment consist primarily of three types of materials. The
first zone consists of pervious, stratified sands and gravels with
occasional layers of silty fine sand and fine sandy silt. This
zone is the primary seepage zone and varies in thickness from
9.1 to 21.3 m (30 – 70 ft) directly under the dam embankment.
The second zone varies between 6.1 and 18.3 m (20 and 60
ft) thick and primarily is silty fine sand with pockets of sandy
silt. The third zone, which lies just above bedrock, consists
primarily of gravels, and varies in thickness from 3 to 18.3 m
(10 – 60 ft). In addition to the primary soil types, all of these
soil zones have some amount of cobbles and boulders present.
Grain-size distribution curves were reviewed for the soils in
the primary seepage zone [upper 9.1 – 21.3 m (30 – 70 ft)] and
in particular from boreholes at station 14⫹70 [boring FD87-
1; refer to Fig. 4(b) for location] and station 17⫹00 [boring
FD93-3; refer to Fig. 4(b)] because these are close to zones
JOURNAL OF GEOTECHNICAL AND GEOENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING / MARCH 1999 / 199
of extensive seepage, described later. Although the overall de-
scription of this deposit is ‘‘stratified sand and gravels,’’ the
data from these two boreholes (FD87-1 in particular) show a
preponderance of ‘‘narrowly graded’’ gravels with sand and
silt, sand with silt, as well as gravels that are less uniform
(Unified Soil Classifications GP, GP-GM, and SP). The uni-
formity of the gravel at station 14⫹70 (boring FD87-1) in the
primary seepage zone is striking, and the samples tested from
this zone contain from 71 to 82% gravel. Below the seepage
zone, the soil abruptly transitions to a fairly uniform sand with
some silt and gravel present. At station 17⫹00 (boring FD93-
3), the gravel tends to be more ‘‘widely graded,’’ and the
gravel percentage generally is lower and more variable, rang-
ing from 21 to 68%. These soils also transition with depth into
more sandy soils that contain limited amounts of gravels and
silts (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 1995).
CASE STUDY, PART I: PRIOR TO 1993
March 1968 Event
In March 1968 the reservoir pool reached the 7-m (23-ft)
stage, and seepage was observed emerging through a stone
retaining wall on the upstream (north) side of Howarth Road,
as well as from a location 30 m (100 ft) upstream of Howarth

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FIG. 2. Hodges Village Dam Reservoir Map [after U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (1995)]

Road, next to an old gravel road [refer to the overall plan
views in Figs. 4(a and b), and the close-up view of the affected
area in Fig. 4(c)]. The estimated 68 m3/h (300 gpm) combined
seepage washed out Howarth Road. There also was seepage
at an estimated 45 m3/h (200 gpm) from a berm next to the
tailwater pond and from the dam’s rockfill toe within the limits
of the old river channel.
Following this event, a 305-m (1,000-ft)-long, shallow
trench drain was installed as shown in Figs. 4(b and c). A
system of 20-cm (8 in.)-diameter perforated, concrete masonry
pipe (CMP) was placed in a 2.4 – 3.0 m (8 – 10 ft) deep trench
and surrounded by 1.9 cm (0.75 in.) crushed stone and filter
sand (a 1:1 mixture that was readily available and state spec-
ified at the time). The stone was deemed necessary in the sand
to prevent loss of material into the stone surrounding the CMP.
This drainage setup was designed to discharge on the rockfill
slope above the tailwater pond through two 38-cm (15 in.)-
diameter reinforced-concrete pipes (RCPs). A seepage mea-
suring weir also was constructed across the old river channel
to monitor seepage quantities; this temporary wooden structure
200 / JOURNAL OF GEOTECHNICAL AND GEOENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING / MARCH 1999
was replaced later by a concrete weir [Fig. 4(a)]. These rela-
tively localized measures, which wee built after this event, did
not address the larger seepage problem that existed at the time,
which was determined later to be massive seepage through
highly pervious, open-work gravel zones immediately below
the dam embankment (described earlier). Although not inves-
tigated, the installed drains may have enhanced concentrated
seepage, which in turn may have produced fines migration.
1987 Event
During March to April 1987 the maximum pool ever ex-
perienced on the dam occurred, 8.4 m (27.4 ft) stage [2.7 m
(8.1 ft) below spillway crest]. During this event, seepage
emerged from several areas. Clear seepage flowed from the
dam’s rockfill toe within the old river channel, and several
small boils had developed. The total combined seepage flow
from this area was approximately 57 m3/h (250 gpm). At the
downstream toe of the left abutment peninsula, more severe
seepage conditions developed. Seepage emerged through the

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FIG. 3. Soil Profile at Hodges Village Dam Site: (a) Station 1⫹00 to 12⫹50; (b) Station 12⫹50 to 25⫹00 [after U.S. Army Corps of En-
gineers (1995)]
JOURNAL OF GEOTECHNICAL AND GEOENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING / MARCH 1999 / 201

J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 1999.125:198-206.

 face of the stone retaining wall along the upstream side of
Howarth Road and was bleeding up through cracks in the
pavement and through the gravel shoulders along each side of
the road. Fig. 5 shows a photo of the seepage breakout. Two
small sinkholes developed in the road in this same area. Both
of the 38-cm (15-in.)-diameter RCP outlet pipes installed as
part of the 1968 remediation effort were discharging at full
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capacity. Along a 183-m (600-ft) reach around the perimeter
of the tailwater pond [labeled Augutteback Pond in Fig. 4(c)],
several boils developed, the largest of which was approxi-
mately 10 cm (4 in.) in diameter and piped out a total of 2.3 –
3.1 m3 (3 – 4 yd3) of fine sand. A sandbag ring was constructed
around this boil in an effort to stop further piping.
Clearly, extensive remedial work on the dam was required

FIG. 4. Plan View of Hodges Village Dam Site: (a) Station 1⫹00 to 12⫹50; (b) Station 12⫹50 to 25⫹00; (c) Close-Up View of Affected
Area [after U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (1995)]

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FIG. 4. (Continued )

FIG. 5. Seepage Breakout through Howarth Road and Adjacent Wall after March 1987 Event

that would address the more systemic seepage problems. Al-
though other options may have been considered (no records
were found indicating other remediation alternatives), the fol-
lowing corrective actions were taken. A gravel berm, approx-
imately 152 m (500 ft) long by 9 m (30 ft) wide was built
along the edge of the tailwater pond, with a 30.5-cm (12-in.)-
thick gabion mattress on 30.5 cm (12 in.) of 3.2 cm (1.25 in.)
stone for shoreline erosion protection [Fig. 4(c)]. Twelve relief
wells were placed along this berm at approximately 15 m (50
ft) spacing to depths of 15 m (50 ft). The wells consist of 20
cm (8 in.) inside diameter stainless steel well screen sur-
JOURNAL OF GEOTECHNICAL AND GEOENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING / MARCH 1999 / 203
rounded by a 20-cm (8-in.)-thick gravel pack. A new foun-
dation drain, approximately 262 m (860 ft) long, was con-
structed beneath Howarth Road and the old gravel road [Fig.
4(c)]. Varying from 3.4 to 6.1 m (11 – 20 ft) in depth, the drain
is a 46-cm (18-in.)-diameter slotted RCP surrounded by 30.5
cm (12 in.) of 3.2 cm (1.25 in.) crushed stone and at least 30.5
cm (12 in.) of blended filter material [i.e., the same 1:1 mix
of filter sand and 1.9 cm (0.75 in.) crushed stone used earlier].
Manholes were included about every 30 m (100 ft) to monitor
flows. The rest of the trench was backfilled with the same
compacted, blended filter material. A nonwoven geotextile

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FIG. 6. Foundation Materials That Had Piped Out of 24-in. Outlet Pipe from MH-6 into Tailwater Pond after April 1993 Event

FIG. 7. Seepage Damage after April 1993 Event, Including Collapsed Roadway, Manhole and Wall, Cut Trees That Had Been Leaning,
and Tension Crack on Slope

lined the excavation trench to separate natural foundation soils
from the drain. A 61-cm (24-in.) RCP carried the drain dis-
charge into the tailwater pond.
CASE STUDY, PART II: 1993 HIGH POOL EVENT
On April 3, 1993, the dam again experienced a high pool
event, this time reaching 6.5 m (21.3 ft) stage, and a depres-
sion began to develop on the surface of Howarth Road, west
of manhole no. 6 [MH-6; Fig. 4(c)]. This 3 – 3.7 m (10 – 12 ft)
diameter, 20 – 25 cm (8 – 10 in.) deep depression coincided
with muddy water flowing into MH-6 and through the 61-cm
(24-in.) RCP outlet pipe, out to the tailwater pond, where a
plume of fine sand was formed. By April 5, 1993, as the res-
ervoir elevation was dropping approximately 0.15 m/day (0.5
ft/day), approximately 23 m3 (30 yd3) of sand had been de-
posited in the tailwater pond around the outlet pipe (Fig. 6)
and the depression in Howarth Road had increased to approx-
imately 0.6 m (2 ft) deep and extended out 15 m (50 ft) west
204 / JOURNAL OF GEOTECHNICAL AND GEOENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING / MARCH 1999
from the manhole. From within MH-6, it could be seen that
several sections of the 46-cm (18-in.) foundation drain pipe
and the 61-cm (24-in.) outlet pipe had subsided and the top
of the manhole had tilted several centimeters in the upstream
direction and had subsided at least 0.3 m (1 ft). A 1.2-m
(4-ft)-wide section of pavement upstream from MH-6 was be-
ginning to subside and extended to the stone wall 3.7 m (12
ft) away, and by late evening a section of the stone wall was
subsiding and tilting into the developing depression. In addi-
tion, several large trees behind the wall began to lean toward
the depression and a tension crack developed about halfway
up the natural slope behind the wall; the affected trees were
cut down as a safety precaution (Fig. 7). All of these devel-
opments pointed toward a malfunction or breach of the filter
around the foundation drain. The muddy water flowing into
MH-6, the propagation of the depression, and the sand depo-
sition in the tailwater pond further indicated the early stages
of a piping channel from the reservoir pool to the area around
MH-6.

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FIG. 8. Results of Seepage Analysis of Hodges Village Dam Left Abutment Peninsula Performed after 1993 event: (a) Existing Seep-
age Conditions for Surcharge Pool at Elevation of 515 ft; (b) Predicted Conditions after Concrete Panel Cutoff Wall Is Constructed
Emergency repairs consisted of driving steel sheet piling to
a depth of 10.7 m (35 ft) along the upstream side of Howarth
Road and encompassing MH-6, an area of approximately 30
m (100 ft) long by 6 m (20 ft) wide. Flow into MH-6 was
monitored closely and went from 34 m3/h (150 gpm) on April
6 to 8 m3/h (35 gpm) on April 20, 1993, with relatively clear
flows observed after April 7. Thus, although the sheeting did
not prevent flow, it did significantly reduce it and effectively
stopped fines migration.
Permanent reconstruction work consisted of removing the
damaged pipe and filters, reconstructing MH-6 and the foun-
dation drain, and backfilling. During excavation inside the
sheet pile enclosure adjacent to the MH-6 location, the natural,
highly pervious open-work gravel was exposed in the exca-
vation sidewalls. This is one reason for much of the adjacent
seepage damage, because it allowed concentrated seepage to
erode internally the filter protection system in the trench. With
no reservoir pool, pin boils were observed to be developing at
the base of the excavation, clearly an indication of high exit
gradients even without a reservoir present. An abandoned 3.2-
cm (1.25 in.) crushed stone sump drain, used during the 1990
construction of the foundation drain, also was uncovered. This
drain appeared to have been in direct contact with the stone
filter around the slotted RCP entering MH-6; thus, no filtering
of fine-grained soils occurred when seepage entered from be-
neath the pipe. Finally, beneath the abandoned crushed stone
sump and extending into the excavation sidewalls, a stratum
of fine silty sand was observed, which was apparently the
source and/or remains of eroded material.
Based on the observed conditions during reconstruction, it
appears that high seepage gradients (which the pin boils, later
observed, prove exist even with no reservoir pool) forced silty
sand into the abandoned stone sump and then into the concrete
pipe adjacent to the manhole. As conditions worsened, a void
was created around the drain line, which quickly spread to
overlying and adjacent areas.
ANALYSIS AND DESIGN RECOMMENDATIONS
The Army Corps of Engineers finite-element seepage anal-
ysis program CSEEP and FastSeep were used to model flow
JOURNAL OF GEOTECHNICAL AND GEOENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING / MARCH 1999 / 205
J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 1999.125:198-206.
patterns through the existing dam and to investigate the effects
of various remediation schemes. The focus of the analyses was
on the dam’s left abutment peninsula, because that is where
the Howarth Road seepage problems had occurred [the plan
view of Fig. 4(b) shows this peninsula relative to the seepage
area]. Fig. 8(a) shows the flow patterns (velocity vectors and
pressure heads) at the left abutment peninsula back-analyzed
after the 1993 event. The model results indicate that when the
pool exceeds the 9.1-m (30 ft)-stage level, seepage will emerge
on the slope above Howarth Road, and at the 12.2-m (40 ft)
stage, exit gradients will exceed the calculated critical gradi-
ent, icr = 0.825. It is noteworthy that when the 1987 event [8.4
m (27.4 ft) stage] was modeled, an exit gradient of i = 0.8
resulted. The boils that developed adjacent to Howarth Road
are indicative of this close agreement between the estimates
for i and icr. Considering the uncertainties associated with an
analysis of this complexity, the boils essentially validated the
seepage analysis and also may have been indicative of the
larger seepage problem.
When the relief wells in the gravel berm were modeled,
there were indications that each well can control the exit gra-
dient in its immediate vicinity, but the wells are less effective
at influencing gradients at intermediate locations. The model
shows that even if the wells were 100% effective, their radius
of influence is diminished by the presence of open-work gravel
strata and the interbedding and cross-bedding in foundation
deposits. According to model results, toe drains built in 1968
and 1990 [Fig. 4(c)] control the phreatic surface immediately
downstream of drain locations but do not affect the exit gra-
dients along the seepage berm and tailwater pond. This pri-
marily is because the drains do not have adequate depths and
capacities and therefore cannot sufficiently solve the problem
of massive underseepage and the associated erosion problems.
It became clear from the results of these analyses, as well
as from observed conditions during actual pool events, that
remedial measures are necessary to maintain the future integ-
rity of the dam. The two basic goals of the remediation are to
minimize the exit gradients and to prevent piping conditions,
both of which can lead to failure of the dam. After modeling
the wall at two different high pools and extending the wall to
 various depths, the selected alternative was the concrete panel
cutoff wall extending to bedrock. Fig. 8(b) shows a sample
analysis that includes the cutoff wall.
The critical model section results for the left abutment pen-
insula indicate that a concrete cutoff wall will reduce effec-
tively the phreatic surface within the foundation to prevent
uncontrolled seepage breakout on the downstream dam and
foundation slopes and will prevent the development of large
seepage flows and high exit gradients near the downstream
tailwater pond. It was determined that the wall must extend to
a minimum depth of 31 m (102 ft) below the top of the dam
in order to prevent the maximum exit gradient from exceeding
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the critical value of 0.825. However, because boils and piping
conditions could still occur during a maximum surcharge pool
depth [15.1 m (49.5 ft) stage, elevation 51 ft] even with the
wall in place, the decision was made to extend the wall another
10.1 m (33 ft) to bedrock (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
1995).
Other alternatives that were considered for the Hodges Vil-
lage Dam included an upstream impervious blanket, a partial
steel sheet pile cutoff wall, a slurry-trench cutoff wall, and
enhanced downstream drainage features. The impervious blan-
ket was ruled out because of the lack of an impervious core
to connect to and also because of the environmental impacts:
an area 305 m (1,000 ft) upland from the dam along its entire
length would have to be covered with the blanket. The sheet
pile cutoff wall was not considered feasible because of the
numerous cobbles and boulders encountered during the 1993
subsurface investigations. The problems with a slurry-trench
cutoff wall included space limitations, the need to keep
trenches open for extended periods, and, again, the lack of a
dam core to tie into. Improving the downstream drainage was
not considered a permanent fix (because it would require more
extensive maintenance than other alternatives) and presented
the problems of placing fill in wetland areas and requiring
extensive dewatering.
The cutoff wall currently is under construction with antici-
pated completion in 1999. The wall is being constructed using
a cast-in-place, alternating panel method, with slurry used for
trench stability until concrete is tremied into the panel exca-
vations. When completed, the dam will continue to be moni-
tored, as it is now, with a substantial array of piezometers and
other instrumentation that are monitored centrally via a com-
puter automated system.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
This paper described the seepage problems at the Hodges
Village Dam, an earth embankment dam in south-central Mas-
sachusetts, that is used for flood control by the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers. Mainly because this dam consists of rel-
atively pervious materials and sits on pervious foundation
soils, seepage problems have been severe at various times over
the last 30 years. A more extensive subsurface exploration pro-
206 / JOURNAL OF GEOTECHNICAL AND GEOENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING / MARCH 1999
J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 1999.125:198-206.
gram may have highlighted the presence of the open-work
gravels prior to dam construction and thus identified the source
of some of the seepage problems encountered over the years.
Other problems may have resulted from improper placement
and compaction of drain materials by the contractor in certain
areas and underestimation of seepage flows when sizing the
drains. Some combination of these led to head buildups at
problematic drains, which resulted in surface manifestations
such as tension cracks, boils and ground heaving, and subsi-
dence. Particularly in the dam’s left abutment peninsula, po-
tential seepage in foundation soils was not accounted for ac-
curately; high pool events have resulted in seepage flows that
cannot be controlled by existing drains and relief wells. New
subsurface investigations, monitoring piezometers, seepage
analyses, and stability analyses have provided better insight on
the dam’s problems. Current plans call for a concrete panel
cutoff wall to be installed to bedrock to eliminate future seep-
age problems.
This case study provided some good lessons for future dam
projects, both new and remedial. Careful analyses of flow and
stability need to be undertaken, even for minor repairs, when
the flow regime under or through a dam may be affected. For
proper design and analysis of flow control features (i.e., drains
and filters), the natural soil needs to be characterized accu-
rately and close attention paid to filter design criteria. Metic-
ulous construction control during both new construction and
remedial work is vital. Even small lapses in construction con-
trol, particularly in crucial parts of the dam (i.e., drains), can
result in serious problems that may not manifest themselves
until years later. As this case study showed, these types of
problems may not only take years to develop, but also may
take years to resolve.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The first writer is grateful to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for
the support provided to pursue his graduate studies and for the use of the
project files for case study development. In particular, the writers thank
the Corps’ New England District, especially John C. Hart, Hari Singh,
and Dick Reardon. The writers also thank Mark Vance of the New Eng-
land District for researching and summarizing some of the project records
and Justin Gardinier, an undergraduate at Northeastern University, for
helping with the figures.
APPENDIX. REFERENCES
Cedergren, H. R. (1989). Seepage, drainage and flow nets, 3rd Ed., Wiley,
New York.
Dunbar, S. W. (1996). ‘‘Seepage theory, analysis and control.’’ MS Rep.,
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northeastern Uni-
versity, Boston.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. (1986). ‘‘Engineering and design: Seep-
age analysis and control for dams.’’ Engrg. Manual EM 1110-2-1901,
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. (1995). Major rehabilitation evaluation
report, Hodges Village Dam, Oxford, MA. U.S. Army Corps of Engi-
neers, New England Division.