In general, a human being can survive three days without water. It’s simple, you’re thirsty – go to the faucet, turn the water on and voila, there it is. This life-essential mix of hydrogen and oxygen can be found below the ground, between rock and soil, as well as rivers, streams or springs. Another important source of water is a reservoir.
In the United States, nine out of 10 people get their water from public water systems, which are most-often supplied by surface and ground water. In order to deliver 90% of the country’s water, there needs to be a way to get the water to the American public. This is where a reservoir service gate comes in.
Service gates are the controlled barriers regulating the flow of water in and out of the reservoir. At the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Pomona Lake in Vassar, Kansas, these gates have been doing their job since dam construction was completed in 1962.
“Our partners from the Tennessee Valley Authority arrived Tuesday, Dec. 3, to start the process of removing service gate two from the control tower,” said Scott Rice, Pomona Lake operations project manager. “This is the midway point of our gate rehabilitation project. Gate one was rehabilitated last December and returned to us in November. Now it’s gate two’s turn.”
If a human being is constantly working for more than 60 years, they’d definitely need some rest, rehabilitation and perhaps a medical procedure or two. In a manner of speaking, this is what is happening to the gates at dams around the Kansas City District, including at Pomona Lake.
“The original paint that was on there is starting to show its age,” Rice said. “They’re here to pull the gate and cylinder and put them on a truck to the Tennessee Valley Authority’s shop in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, for a full inspection. Depending on what they find, they’ll re-weld any cracks, and the chipped paint will get repainted.”
According to Joe Haller, mechanical engineer with the Kansas City District, a 50-year lifecycle is always a nice number to aim for when it comes to gate rehabilitation. “Salt content and abrasives impact the life-expectancy of the coating on the paint, once the coating fails, that is when we start talking about a rehab,” he said.
While it may seem a trip from southeast Kansas to northern Alabama is a bit excessive for such a large component to experience a makeover, this is a very affordable way to do it. According to Manhal Alsaman, Pomona Lake gate refurbishment project manager, the partnership with Tennessee Valley Authority is a critical partnership for the Kansas City District for both convenience and economics.
“The partnership with Tennessee [Valley Authority] is essential due to their expertise, cost-efficiency and proven track record,” Alsaman said. “They have proven they can successfully perform the vinyl paint application on gates, which reduces the potential risk for rework and repainting and add additional costs and time to the project.”
In addition to the Pomona Lake project, the district’s partnership with the Tennessee Valley Authority has resulted in fresh service gates for Harry S. Truman, Pomme de Terre and Hillsdale Lake projects. Partnerships such as these are not only beneficial to the delivery of quality water to communities throughout the district, but to partner organizations as well.
“We have worked together on these projects to help control flooding and minimum flow requirements for each site,” said Todd M. Davis, Tennessee Valley Authority construction manager. “Tennessee Valley Authority and USACE have built a trusting relationship working together as sister companies.”
The way water is delivered, whether for sustaining human life or irrigation purposes, could not be possible without an effective system to get it from point A to point B.
Partnerships such as the one between USACE and the Tennessee Valley Authority in keeping these service gates in optimal operating condition are vital not only to the success of the systems, but to human life itself across the district.
| Date Taken: | 12.20.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 12.20.2024 14:36 |
| Story ID: | 488136 |
| Location: | VASSAR, KANSAS, US |
| Web Views: | 10 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Reservoir gate: A makeover story, by Cynthia Clark, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
