I was amazed seeing this video. My dad was directly involved in this project. The footage at 15:39 and 17:21 shows all of the lab - model work accomplished at the Denver Federal Center (Lakewood) facility to research and remedy this spillway flaw. My dad hand made all of the Plexiglas pipe - spillway gates - and lower spillway 'flip' from engineering drawings. Each Plexiglas section of pipe was hot wrapped over hand made wood forms to make the varying shapes of the spillway tunnel. This 'to scale' lab replica of the spillway performed as designed without the aid of computer simulators. However, the lab was shut down later due to the advancement of simulation technology and reductions in funding.
Hats off to your father for his part. I have respect for those who truly engineered without the aid of computers. How we sent men to the moon and back with limited computer technology is just amazing.
DE DOE: Thanks for sharing your historical information. Just to clarify, Reclamation's Hydraulics Lab remains vibrant and active. To learn more about Reclamation’s Engineering and Laboratory Services Division and specifically the Hydraulic Investigations & Laboratory, please visit the Bureau of Reclamation’s website: www.usbr.gov/tsc/tscorganization/8500.html
Funny you say that. My dad got a "Emergency Permit" From the Grand Canyon Park to see how long it would take to evacuate in an emergency situation. He and 2 others then held the world record for rowing the 300 something odd miles in around 30hours. It typically takes 10-20 days depending on the pace of the group.
The year 1983 was a very unusually wet year for the western states. Not only did Glen Canyon Dam overflow its spillways, but Hoover Dam also overflowed its spillways. Both Lake Powell and Lake Mead were completely full. Now years later in 2022 we are in a severe drought and both Lake Powell and Lake Mead are nearly empty. What a big difference.
If this fascinates anyone, listen/read the book "The Emerald Mile". Simply amazing book about this year, its weather the dam and the fastest speed run down the Grand Canyon.
Nick Johnson if this fascinates you then read the book.... Sliding down the poles by author Dick Burns. It's a very good book! I read it at least 3x a week me and my boyfriend love it. Mr burns gives absolutely the best anal positions that he has to offer.
I remember seeing these types of programs "back in the day" when documentaries were made with so much care and attention to details, right down to the intelligent no nonsense narration. I knew water was insanely powerful but this really knocked my socks off. And all due respect to the brave, tough men who hung precauriously from the tunnel walls to pull off these amazing repairs. Working with so much seeping water is all the more incredible that they worked it as if it wasn't even there at all. WHewww doggie!!!
Funny, I was waiting for the part in the end where they talk about how there will be no more snow because of man made global warming if we don't change our evil ways.
lmao ikr?!?!?!? queue suspense music right before a commercial ad. Then towards the end of episode queue a drama scene between the characters. Fu@k Discover and NatGeo...lol
True. NOVA and other once-respected documentary series have devolved into nothing more than popular science "Gee Whiz kiddies!" shows with the likes of Neil DeGrasshead and Bill Nye the Pseudo-Science Guy with talking heads.
@Nancy Pelosi Are you a brain dead bobble-head like our good Senator from San Francisco with "climate change the sky-is-falling" occupying your every frightened waking moment?
9:36 This guy is sliding down the brace of the spillway gate un-tethered, right above the water going down into the big black hole of death. How 'bout f*ck no
Over 4 decades in heavy industrial construction, on some truly enormous projects, I can say with authority that this is an amazing and incredibly masterful accomplishment. Well done. I am humbled by the teamwork required to do this in less than a year. I hope everyone involved understands that they performed at a real life Superhero level!
John, you are so correct, I know I worked on this job from start to finish as a electrician, up and down spillways daily on a cable or riding the carts, two jobs at one time going on, the repair of damage in spillways from water and the install of air slots above to prevent cavitation problem from happening again,,, all tools and material had to be tied off or extra secured so as not to fall on workers below.....but more amazing was the excellent safety record, unfortunately 1 man was lost and that was due to disposing unexploded explosives, and that was at a area a few miles away from the jobsite....now on a more humorous note.... Guy F. Atkinson was the Gen. contr. and about halfway thru job they gave a small stainless steel folding knife to all the workers as a safety award, it was very nice with engraving on front of picture of dam with the years 82-83 also .... they brought everyone up on a platform to personally hand to them,,,, my tool partner went up to get his brand new shiny knife, opened it up,,, and cut his finger,,,,,, no more knives as awards and we started that quarter with a knife cut accident on the jobsite...
I remember that year. We had 49.5 inches of snow during a storm that lasted 3 days from May 13-15 at my home which was 8500 ft elevation. It took over a week to get out of our road. The roof on my van collapsed under the weight as the snow was wet and heavy. My neighbor who was a plow driver for the county, left his wife and home at the beginning of the storm and didn't return for a week. He was the first one to come up our road after all that time and he had to borrow a plow to get up to where we were. We all knew this was going to cause flooding and damage that summer.
@@johnknowing-zr8de LOL, how meaning is totally lost in the text. I was not being sarcastic. I was just marvelling at what happened. Maybe I should have been more eloquent or some such and put the "WOW" then comma in front of "Did".
It's crazy when you think about that fact that it would have taken out both the Glen Canyon and Hoover dam because Hoover wouldn't have enough storage and they were having the same problems there.
My grandfather was an engineer foreman, who helped build the dam. I have an image he took right before they took the scaffolding off. How random to find this video!! Great job! ❤
John how right you are, but the worst part is the story is still evolving, how much more damage is yet to happen unless we get water, water and more water...Cities, States and communities are just now going to have to make some very tough choices, that will affect or change lives and businesses... Vegas residents having been seen water restrictions for awhile, now get ready for millions of other to be affected and then you'll here people really start complaining.....my future prediction will be you'll either have a swimming pool or a lawn but not both.....I lived in Arizona for last 50 years, 10 at Lake Powell (Page) and rest in Phoenix area,,, and have no clue where they are going to get all the water needed for vast amount of new residents moving in DAILY.???
Thank you so much for sharing! I went on a Glen Canyon raft tour years ago and this Indian couple didn’t realize they weren’t in the Grand Canyon proper until 1/2 way through the rafting. (they took the wrong tour)
I'm assuming you went on the trip from the base of Glen Canyon dam to Lee's Ferry ???? If I'm correct you were on one of the hidden jewels and treasures of Northern Arizona. The water is running so slow you need a motor to gently guide you down the Colorado river, the canyons on both sides are overwhelming, this is the start of the Grand Canyon and your able to enjoy a nice peaceful ride and able to look at all the beauty around you on both sides...and you get off the river before it's starts getting rough......I use to live in Page Az for over 10 years and anytime friends or family came to visit would send them on that trip....All have told me over the years, it's the most amazing thing they've done and how it still is to this day the most fantastic trip ever...... Please keep this little secret quiet so they don't get overwhelmed with visitors and so many others enjoy a trip of a lifetime.....
8.14.21. I just watched this video. I give it a thumbs up. I enjoyed the whole vid. Much respect to the men in those types of working environments. Working in dark,wet very dangerous conditions. I hope there where no major injuries or worse/fatals. Thanks for the upload. Atlanta Ga.
In the summer of 1983, the Bureau of Reclamation was thinking that the party would go on forever. I'll NEVER forget the Fall and Winter of 1982-83. I was in my teens. The rains started in late October 82 and didn't end until about middleish June 83. I would rain for days and days and days on end and then there would be a day of no rain and if lucky a couple of days of no rain only to return to days and days and days of rain. I went to Sierras about 6,000 feet in latter September of 1983 for a deer hunting expedition and there was snow all over. I ended talking to a ranger I came across and said it looked like there had been a decent snow fall RECENTLY and she just scoffed and said "that snow is from last winter".
@David Bryant Sorry David. Bad spelling. I meant too say "Erode the dam from the inside and bring it down catastrophically. There by releasing the water behind the dam."
@@brucel.phillis1395 For sure. The best thing about the video is the discussion on cavitation, which is totally non-intuitive until it happens, and you study it. Big up to the scientists who found the solution.
The power of Mother Nature should never ever be underestimated, it’s a pity that all that water was wasted, but who could have foreseen (except for climatologists) that water, even in America, would start to become an issue in a mega drought that is already affecting some states. A fascinating look back into industrial and ecological history, thanks for sharing. 😀👍🇬🇧🏴
And now, almost 40 years later, Glen Canyon Dam is almost useless. The level today is lower than it was in 1972 when the lake was filling for the first time (and that took 18 years!). The level is getting close to minimum power pool, about 50 feet to go. It is likely to happen this year. Releases will continue to keep lake Mead at usable levels. It is ironic that 2 huge dams, Glen Canyon and Hoover, were built with only hazy understanding of the climate in the west. After the dams were built it was learned that the Colorado basin has had many mega droughts in the past 1000 years.
The water running down State Street at 3:16 - I remember those days vividly. My brother and I helped my aunt move out of her apartment near the outlet of City Creek. When we started, there was 1/4 inch of water running down her street. By the time we finished, it was a full inch! Wild days.
Kevin Fedarko wrote a book called “the Emerald Mile”. It is about the fastest passage of a river boat through the Grand Canyon. He includes the story of what happened at the Glen Canyon dam in fair detail. If this video interest you, the book will too! Available as an E-book.
the air slot purpose was, as water passed thru it pulled in air to mix with the water, so when it landed below the air in water would act as a cushion,,,,after was installed they ran many test of releasing water and going back in to examine,,,when tunnel dry,, no problems ever found.....
It does but it adds air to the system. Air is compressible so it compresses and absorb the energy of the turbulence induced cavitation instead of the hard concrete.
Totally enjoyed nerding out on that. I remember the temp river running down SLC. I always thought cavitation to be the domain of submarine and ship propellers. Wow.
During the original construction on the south tunnel, the giant hoist holding the working platform broke loose from it's anchoring and was pulled about 200 feet linear before contacting a substantial concrete pier and was stopped. The work platform was called a "Jumbo". it fell down the tunnel taking the workers with it. Sorry I don't remember the toll for the accident. The whole dam was a huge project.
Yeah that guy looked like a Native American iron worker. They must have been so desperate to get it fixed that OSHA safety standards were sometimes overlooked. His only real grip hold to that beam was by his legs. Brave man if he fell down that tunnel he'd have been dead.
on the serious side,,,,this job was great for so many men and women out of work at the time, We were in a serious recession , so many looking for work close to home...At the beginning no one knew the scope of job, as they got into job more they discovered more damage. The hardest working group of men were the drillers,, in a very dangerous environment with water constantly running down from walls and ceiling...most of these men came up from the copper mines in lower Arizona to work here,,, tough ol boys, that made good money and loved their work...
Wow, that's heavy. I visited Lake Powell in 1971. It was a stunningly beautiful place. I was only a kid and I remember getting bitten by scroungy fish while swimming. It's hard to imagine something so immense disappearing.
Yeh I lived on the North Fork of the White river for many years, and that was one unusual spring. The river was out of its bank and into the hay fields like I've never seen before or since. I remember going up to Craig for some things, and the Yampa was way high too. I do not remember the snow being "a little" over average. It was a LOT over average. They should have begun draining that lake all winter long. It was worse the following winter, but then after that, we had a pretty good drought going for for several years which left local reservoirs pretty much empty. By the way, Georg Frideric Handel hates that you used his music for this.
I always assumed the tunnels would atleast have a 1/4 steel plates lining the bottom. Duh. Concrete erodes very easily i.e potholes can show up overnight due to erosion and vehicle weight. I hope a steel deck on any relief tunnel is mandatory. Just paint it with rust prevention paint or use non corrosive metals. Zinc plates or coating. Pretty much anything is better than concrete for that specific job
Watching more of the video made me think. Why not just use steel plates and make the tunnels out of that. Cheaper, lasts longer than concrete. And again spray it with anti corrosive.
@@dickfitswell3437 - steel does not give much more protection against cavitation than concrete and many steel gates, tunnels (and ship) parts have been damaged in the same way. I'll be surprised if the air slot is a complete solution in the same conditions. We were very lucky not to lose the dam through over-topping in 1983.. I doubt that we will ever see Lake Powell or Lake Mead fill again in their life times - the upper basin states now require too much water and the Colorado is in trouble.
Lake Mead is 10 ft higher than it was last year but you have to dig through the Google results to find the graph. 95% of the results are the Armageddon projections from a year or two ago that the media was hoping for to feed the “sheeple”.
@@billieclark8870 As the water travels down the Colorado River, silt and sediment in water travels with it, as it reaches the dam the currents have a twirling effect and sediment/silt settles to the bottom over the years this has been building up at the base of the dam on the Lake Powell side...Think of rivers and current constantly changing the open waterway passages with silt, then needing dredgers to come in and open the shipping channels so ships can continue down the river safely...
@@billieclark8870 doubt that,,, if the sediment gets to much around the dam it could cause problems for water entering for turbines or bypass tunnels to operate, they will definitely do what is needed to remove obstacles ...
There is a corresponding documentary on the Glen Canyon Dam construction posted on YT. From 1956 to completion and also covers diversion tube flood damage. Go to YT search " Glen Canyon Dam construction documentary " It'll be there. Whether you agree or disagree with the project its incredibly amazing what was done.
It's an established fact that the top 4 feet of Lake Powell (which can be seen by Mr. Magoo from orbit) was being held back by marine plywood sheets on the radial gates. 3/4" plywood sheets, I might add. Lake Powell.
going in after the first time was easier,,,, the thing that freaked some out and they would then quit, was so much pressure all around the concrete liner (tube) and water would be shooting out 5 foot in tiny steam from pressure behind it....in different locations all around and up and down tunnel....working in water day and night....I gained so much respect for these extremely hard working miners, they would ride and kid each other thru the whole shift and if you didn't carry your share of work they let you know......oh yeah and the whole time working in rain gear because water coming down all over the place.... we would get off work and drive one mile to town, the Cove lounge to get a drink and sit next to fireplace to dry off.....but that's when that old saying comes in " go for one stay till one " ,,,, you think we would have learned after the first couple weeks,, but we didn't....
The all-time snowpack record in the Colorado drainage was beaten yet again about 10 years ago. By the end of the year both Powell and Mead had DROPPED below the previous year's mark. What does that tell you? It tells me that nature can no longer supply as much water as downstream users are consuming even in a record water year. Blaming this on "global warming" is nonsense. Overpopulation and wasting water on idiocy are the causes of the continuing drop in water levels. Powell and Mead will dry up regardless of what the weather does.
How times have changed. Math can show that even a decade of continuous annual record runoff seen here would not be enough to top off Lake Powell and Mead at its current state.
you have to remember why the dam was built, water storage and control for floods downstream.....every inch of water stored in lake behind dam is a enormous amount of money, being generated by generators in the dam, trying to keep all the water you can but not have to much so future runoffs can be contained is a gamble every year.......in 82 and 83 more water came in than expected..... 2 years out of 60 is pretty good job...but lessons were learned......I know cause was on this job from start to finish.....Newberry Elec, under Guy F. Atkinson Contractor.....
@@artgrosch1215 I have a license as a civil engineer and understand all of that. BUT you cannot ignore the safety issues if the dam exceeds its designed storage capacity. I have never seen a dam that did not take into account a storm of at least a 100 year storm. You also have to take into account when designing the potential for development. Shopping malls increase the amount of runoff. Regardless you start the rainy season with a reduced volume behind the dam to prevent the dam capacity from causing a problem, normally there are two capacities one for power generation and one for flood control. Y9ou do not want to start the rainy season at 100% of flood control capacity.
on both sides of the dam there are runoff tunnels, to release water as needed, or for emergencies,, the engineering principles used in building this dam and others at that time used this type of engineering, which was thought to be the best. They found out when finally needed, and used, that cavitation at the bottom elbow caused massive failures, in tunnell, and those walls also were holding the dam in place, more erosion of the tunnels could weaken the canyon walls....When dam was built, like others in the West they thought they had addressed all safety concerns, they didn't have computers to prove designs that were the best at that time..This just proves again how much we have advanced as a society with better and better methods and now we have means to prove before those choices are proven right or wrong. I did read somewhere later where the agency did say they were caught off guard, 1 by the severity of storms and the way they kept coming in,,,, never seen weather like this ..... 2 also the governing agency has to work with the 6- or 7 Governors of surrounding states, that lakes and streams pass thru, including the Colorado River... getting them to agree to release water early when no one was predicting weather like this was a impossible task....Just another example of Americans waiting till they are forced to confront a catastrophe.
@@artgrosch1215 I understand but there are situations where an open overflow should be used. With this dam the out flows are gated and require human action and mechanical equipment to open. Equipment like that fails more often than people realize.
@@johnmcmickle5685 Amazon is taking good care of less runoff. Shopping Malls are a thing of the past, so less shopping Malls-less runoff. Thank Amazon.
I was amazed seeing this video. My dad was directly involved in this project. The footage at 15:39 and 17:21 shows all of the lab - model work accomplished at the Denver Federal Center (Lakewood) facility to research and remedy this spillway flaw. My dad hand made all of the Plexiglas pipe - spillway gates - and lower spillway 'flip' from engineering drawings. Each Plexiglas section of pipe was hot wrapped over hand made wood forms to make the varying shapes of the spillway tunnel. This 'to scale' lab replica of the spillway performed as designed without the aid of computer simulators. However, the lab was shut down later due to the advancement of simulation technology and reductions in funding.
Hats off to your father for his part. I have respect for those who truly engineered without the aid of computers. How we sent men to the moon and back with limited computer technology is just amazing.
Snoopysails How did Gamble know when to flip the switch???????????????
DE DOE: Thanks for sharing your historical information. Just to clarify, Reclamation's Hydraulics Lab remains vibrant and active. To learn more about Reclamation’s Engineering and Laboratory Services Division and specifically the Hydraulic Investigations & Laboratory, please visit the Bureau of Reclamation’s website: www.usbr.gov/tsc/tscorganization/8500.html
Funny you say that. My dad got a "Emergency Permit" From the Grand Canyon Park to see how long it would take to evacuate in an emergency situation. He and 2 others then held the world record for rowing the 300 something odd miles in around 30hours. It typically takes 10-20 days depending on the pace of the group.
My Uncle worked for Guy F. Atkinson all over the world.
The year 1983 was a very unusually wet year for the western states. Not only did Glen Canyon Dam overflow its spillways, but Hoover Dam also overflowed its spillways. Both Lake Powell and Lake Mead were completely full. Now years later in 2022 we are in a severe drought and both Lake Powell and Lake Mead are nearly empty. What a big difference.
I'll agree to that.
So lake mead still has over 1,000 ft of water.
2022/23 snowpack is shaping up to be one for the history books.
Now we are having a bigger year than 83😂
What goes around . . . Comes around. Glen Canyon will rise as much as they will let it this year, with the remainder helping to fill Lake Mead.
If this fascinates anyone, listen/read the book "The Emerald Mile". Simply amazing book about this year, its weather the dam and the fastest speed run down the Grand Canyon.
I read this while on a rafting trip there. It made me very nervous for Crystal...
Nick Johnson if this fascinates you then read the book.... Sliding down the poles by author Dick Burns. It's a very good book! I read it at least 3x a week me and my boyfriend love it. Mr burns gives absolutely the best anal positions that he has to offer.
Running the river in 1983: czcams.com/video/VPcrccxcNsI/video.html
I did read emerald mile it was a great book
This is what documentaries are about, facts and pure njoyable, not the crap discovery etc make now
I remember seeing these types of programs "back in the day" when documentaries were made with so much care and attention to details, right down to the intelligent no nonsense narration. I knew water was insanely powerful but this really knocked my socks off. And all due respect to the brave, tough men who hung precauriously from the tunnel walls to pull off these amazing repairs. Working with so much seeping water is all the more incredible that they worked it as if it wasn't even there at all. WHewww doggie!!!
Funny, I was waiting for the part in the end where they talk about how there will be no more snow because of man made global warming if we don't change our evil ways.
lmao ikr?!?!?!? queue suspense music right before a commercial ad. Then towards the end of episode queue a drama scene between the characters. Fu@k Discover and NatGeo...lol
True. NOVA and other once-respected documentary series have devolved into nothing more than popular science "Gee Whiz kiddies!" shows with the likes of Neil DeGrasshead and Bill Nye the Pseudo-Science Guy with talking heads.
@Nancy Pelosi Are you a brain dead bobble-head like our good Senator from San Francisco with "climate change the sky-is-falling" occupying your every frightened waking moment?
9:36 This guy is sliding down the brace of the spillway gate un-tethered, right above the water going down into the big black hole of death. How 'bout f*ck no
I could watch hours of that kinda stuff that was a great video
When America was America I miss what we could have still been
same
All I can say is wow... Hydraulic engineering is really serious business.
Alot of smart and brave people saved countless lives for their work. Thank you.
I'm a dam nerd. This is fascinating.
Nature will win out in the end.
@transwomen are sexist men Climate change is destroying both reservoirs a lot quicker than sediment will.
Me, too
No..I think God will win out in the end.
Over 4 decades in heavy industrial construction, on some truly enormous projects, I can say with authority that this is an amazing and incredibly masterful accomplishment. Well done. I am humbled by the teamwork required to do this in less than a year. I hope everyone involved understands that they performed at a real life Superhero level!
John, you are so correct, I know I worked on this job from start to finish as a electrician, up and down spillways daily on a cable or riding the carts, two jobs at one time going on, the repair of damage in spillways from water and the install of air slots above to prevent cavitation problem from happening again,,, all tools and material had to be tied off or extra secured so as not to fall on workers below.....but more amazing was the excellent safety record, unfortunately 1 man was lost and that was due to disposing unexploded explosives, and that was at a area a few miles away from the jobsite....now on a more humorous note.... Guy F. Atkinson was the Gen. contr. and about halfway thru job they gave a small stainless steel folding knife to all the workers as a safety award, it was very nice with engraving on front of picture of dam with the years 82-83 also .... they brought everyone up on a platform to personally hand to them,,,, my tool partner went up to get his brand new shiny knife, opened it up,,, and cut his finger,,,,,, no more knives as awards and we started that quarter with a knife cut accident on the jobsite...
@@artgrosch1215 🤣
I remember that year. We had 49.5 inches of snow during a storm that lasted 3 days from May 13-15 at my home which was 8500 ft elevation. It took over a week to get out of our road. The roof on my van collapsed under the weight as the snow was wet and heavy. My neighbor who was a plow driver for the county, left his wife and home at the beginning of the storm and didn't return for a week. He was the first one to come up our road after all that time and he had to borrow a plow to get up to where we were. We all knew this was going to cause flooding and damage that summer.
We have seen a lot of that duplicated in Utah, where record snow fell this winter.
I Wished It Would Do It Again For The Next Three To Five Years
Wow, just the scale of everything here. So much riding on this repair. Kudos to all who were involved!
The powers of cavitation! Did anyone pause for a moment and reflect upon that gaping hole in the tunnel? WOW!
No we are all blind, that's why we watch things .
@@johnknowing-zr8de LOL, how meaning is totally lost in the text. I was not being sarcastic. I was just marvelling at what happened. Maybe I should have been more eloquent or some such and put the "WOW" then comma in front of "Did".
Bush Camping Tools back at you I was also being sarcastic lolol Mmmm so does 2 of those make a what i womderllll
@@johnknowing-zr8de Sorry mate LOL! Anyway it is a great vid eh?
Ya it's amazing how air bubbles destroy steel as well . Props on boats , hydro plants and such ...
The giant hole that was caused by the water is terrifying to think about. Just the absolute power of water.
Well I just took a whiz, so I was in control of that water. I showed it who was boss!
@@johnbergstrom2931 Look at the Channel Scablands in Washington. Same thing on a vastly larger scale!
Cavitation almost took out the entire dam. There were very close to complete failure. Bravo to new air slot design.
It's crazy when you think about that fact that it would have taken out both the Glen Canyon and Hoover dam because Hoover wouldn't have enough storage and they were having the same problems there.
Love the air slot. You can see the water exiting is now white-blue.
Hats off to the workers in those tunnels....
Seriously!
My grandfather was an engineer foreman, who helped build the dam. I have an image he took right before they took the scaffolding off. How random to find this video!! Great job! ❤
Fast forward to Mar 10, 2021 and Lake Powell is at just over 37% of capacity. Within my lifetime this lake went from full to near dead pool.
John how right you are, but the worst part is the story is still evolving, how much more damage is yet to happen unless we get water, water and more water...Cities, States and communities are just now going to have to make some very tough choices, that will affect or change lives and businesses... Vegas residents having been seen water restrictions for awhile, now get ready for millions of other to be affected and then you'll here people really start complaining.....my future prediction will be you'll either have a swimming pool or a lawn but not both.....I lived in Arizona for last 50 years, 10 at Lake Powell (Page) and rest in Phoenix area,,, and have no clue where they are going to get all the water needed for vast amount of new residents moving in DAILY.???
WOW! I was on the edge of my seat for this one!
Thank you so much for sharing! I went on a Glen Canyon raft tour years ago and this Indian couple didn’t realize they weren’t in the Grand Canyon proper until 1/2 way through the rafting. (they took the wrong tour)
I'm assuming you went on the trip from the base of Glen Canyon dam to Lee's Ferry ???? If I'm correct you were on one of the hidden jewels and treasures of Northern Arizona. The water is running so slow you need a motor to gently guide you down the Colorado river, the canyons on both sides are overwhelming, this is the start of the Grand Canyon and your able to enjoy a nice peaceful ride and able to look at all the beauty around you on both sides...and you get off the river before it's starts getting rough......I use to live in Page Az for over 10 years and anytime friends or family came to visit would send them on that trip....All have told me over the years, it's the most amazing thing they've done and how it still is to this day the most fantastic trip ever...... Please keep this little secret quiet so they don't get overwhelmed with visitors and so many others enjoy a trip of a lifetime.....
8.14.21. I just watched this video.
I give it a thumbs up.
I enjoyed the whole vid.
Much respect to the men in those types of working environments.
Working in dark,wet very dangerous conditions.
I hope there where no major injuries or worse/fatals.
Thanks for the upload.
Atlanta Ga.
Thank you for posting! Excellent
In the summer of 1983, the Bureau of Reclamation was thinking that the party would go on forever.
I'll NEVER forget the Fall and Winter of 1982-83. I was in my teens. The rains started in late October 82 and didn't end until about middleish June 83. I would rain for days and days and days on end and then there would be a day of no rain and if lucky a couple of days of no rain only to return to days and days and days of rain.
I went to Sierras about 6,000 feet in latter September of 1983 for a deer hunting expedition and there was snow all over. I ended talking to a ranger I came across and said it looked like there had been a decent snow fall RECENTLY and she just scoffed and said "that snow is from last winter".
love the warm analog sound. great video. thanks so much for this
Love the music, a very elegant addition to a complex engineering problem
Very well done , thank you for posting
This shows the power of water and what it can do. Awesome. They were lucky it didn't tare the dam apart. This is one of the best videos I have seen.
@David Bryant Sorry David. Bad spelling. I meant too say "Erode the dam from the inside and bring it down catastrophically. There by releasing the water behind the dam."
@@brucel.phillis1395 For sure. The best thing about the video is the discussion on cavitation, which is totally non-intuitive until it happens, and you study it. Big up to the scientists who found the solution.
That was a very interesting program. I have always been fascinated by engineering.
Me too. My husband was a structural engineer.
.... in 1983 someone could have called Oroville dam that the spillways are insufficient in old dams .... :-o
The power of Mother Nature should never ever be underestimated, it’s a pity that all that water was wasted, but who could have foreseen (except for climatologists) that water, even in America, would start to become an issue in a mega drought that is already affecting some states. A fascinating look back into industrial and ecological history, thanks for sharing. 😀👍🇬🇧🏴
Who could have foreseen a drought IN A DESERT, I wonder.
And now, almost 40 years later, Glen Canyon Dam is almost useless. The level today is lower than it was in 1972 when the lake was filling for the first time (and that took 18 years!). The level is getting close to minimum power pool, about 50 feet to go. It is likely to happen this year. Releases will continue to keep lake Mead at usable levels. It is ironic that 2 huge dams, Glen Canyon and Hoover, were built with only hazy understanding of the climate in the west. After the dams were built it was learned that the Colorado basin has had many mega droughts in the past 1000 years.
It's so sad. I hope there will at least be enough water left for my kids to experience lake powell and then it can be drained.
Glen Canyon Dam had 3 jobs. 1 Flood Control....2 Water storage.....3 Power generation....
Yeah, who could have looked around and seen the desert?
@@perniciouspete4986 So you think the water comes from the desert?
Incredible engineering. I lived in the area at the time, but was so young, I didnt know.
This was a surprisingly well made, no bullshit, video -- see, it can be done!
Little bit of bullshit at the end about the triumph of the human spirit 😂
That was a great film!
And 38 years later a megadrought, thanks alot!
Makes me want to remember this for my next dam building.
Please don't swear, it's quite rude.
The water running down State Street at 3:16 - I remember those days vividly. My brother and I helped my aunt move out of her apartment near the outlet of City Creek. When we started, there was 1/4 inch of water running down her street. By the time we finished, it was a full inch! Wild days.
Kevin Fedarko wrote a book called “the Emerald Mile”. It is about the fastest passage of a river boat through the Grand Canyon. He includes the story of what happened at the Glen Canyon dam in fair detail.
If this video interest you, the book will too!
Available as an E-book.
I kniw the story very well. Sadly never have read the book but my dad told me all about it. He and 2 others made the rowing trip through the canyon
Cool. I’ll look for it from audible.
@@princegroove
You won't regret it! It is a fascinating read.
Sometimes nerdy men are mocked or looked down upon. But at this event, those nerdy men saved the day.
It is interesting that the air slot does not in itself cause cavitation.
the air slot purpose was, as water passed thru it pulled in air to mix with the water, so when it landed below the air in water would act as a cushion,,,,after was installed they ran many test of releasing water and going back in to examine,,,when tunnel dry,, no problems ever found.....
It does but it adds air to the system. Air is compressible so it compresses and absorb the energy of the turbulence induced cavitation instead of the hard concrete.
@@artgrosch1215 thanx Art, I was wondering how the air slot worked and what it did.
The one's who should get the hard work should get the credit.
The power of running water is hard to comprehend, until you see something like this.
This is a great documentary
What great video, had no idea of this problem
With so much water flowing through, the roaring in the valley must be incredibly loud.
Nope. I was there in 2008 when they opened but from the bridge could hardly hear it. Downstream about 1/4 mile could not hear it much.
Totally enjoyed nerding out on that. I remember the temp river running down SLC. I always thought cavitation to be the domain of submarine and ship propellers. Wow.
Fill an Olympic pool in 1 second, mind boggling
25:35 for the people who knew the disaster that would eventuate should this not be fixed asap.
During the original construction on the south tunnel, the giant hoist holding the working platform broke loose from it's anchoring and was pulled about 200 feet linear before contacting a substantial concrete pier and was stopped. The work platform was called a "Jumbo". it fell down the tunnel taking the workers with it. Sorry I don't remember the toll for the accident. The whole dam was a huge project.
9:34 No safety rope. All in a days work
I noticed that too. I work in Nuclear, and stuff like that just doesn't happen.
Yeah that guy looked like a Native American iron worker. They must have been so desperate to get it fixed that OSHA safety standards were sometimes overlooked. His only real grip hold to that beam was by his legs. Brave man if he fell down that tunnel he'd have been dead.
That damn dam was really starting to piss off large numbers of workers, dammit!
on the serious side,,,,this job was great for so many men and women out of work at the time, We were in a serious recession , so many looking for work close to home...At the beginning no one knew the scope of job, as they got into job more they discovered more damage. The hardest working group of men were the drillers,, in a very dangerous environment with water constantly running down from walls and ceiling...most of these men came up from the copper mines in lower Arizona to work here,,, tough ol boys, that made good money and loved their work...
The good old days.
awesome documentary +v!
On a house boat, no warning the possibility of the dam failing in summer of 1983
Damn these are some really great dams
Amazing
Wow, that's heavy. I visited Lake Powell in 1971. It was a stunningly beautiful place. I was only a kid and I remember getting bitten by scroungy fish while swimming. It's hard to imagine something so immense disappearing.
Yeh I lived on the North Fork of the White river for many years, and that was one unusual spring. The river was out of its bank and into the hay fields like I've never seen before or since. I remember going up to Craig for some things, and the Yampa was way high too. I do not remember the snow being "a little" over average. It was a LOT over average. They should have begun draining that lake all winter long. It was worse the following winter, but then after that, we had a pretty good drought going for for several years which left local reservoirs pretty much empty.
By the way, Georg Frideric Handel hates that you used his music for this.
Whew! When one sees the water shooting out with such force, how can they not say something about the energy that is NOT being captured?
Wondering how much the capacity of the lake is reduced by silt since then.
They reported huge Catfish, activity at the bottom of dam, those Cats are BIG! Nice video.
Never see that level of water again, I think 83 was the last time that dam was that full!
Anybody else think at 21:40, holy slip and slide.
I always assumed the tunnels would atleast have a 1/4 steel plates lining the bottom. Duh. Concrete erodes very easily i.e potholes can show up overnight due to erosion and vehicle weight. I hope a steel deck on any relief tunnel is mandatory. Just paint it with rust prevention paint or use non corrosive metals. Zinc plates or coating. Pretty much anything is better than concrete for that specific job
Watching more of the video made me think. Why not just use steel plates and make the tunnels out of that. Cheaper, lasts longer than concrete. And again spray it with anti corrosive.
@@dickfitswell3437 Because the air slot solved the problem
@@dickfitswell3437 - steel does not give much more protection against cavitation than concrete and many steel gates, tunnels (and ship) parts have been damaged in the same way. I'll be surprised if the air slot is a complete solution in the same conditions. We were very lucky not to lose the dam through over-topping in 1983.. I doubt that we will ever see Lake Powell or Lake Mead fill again in their life times - the upper basin states now require too much water and the Colorado is in trouble.
What humans are capable of creating is just mind blowing
comfy video- thanks, /out/ fren.
Don't think those spillway gates are needed today because of the drought.
Very interesting video to be sure.
Now they have room enough in lake Powell to do 10 repairs
Not even if Noah begged the gods will Glen Canyon or Hoover anytime in the next 20 yrs have to even think about having the spillway tubes inspected
Lake Mead is 10 ft higher than it was last year but you have to dig through the Google results to find the graph. 95% of the results are the Armageddon projections from a year or two ago that the media was hoping for to feed the “sheeple”.
@@skulljer9419 NOPE. Might as well fill 'em up with jellybeans!
@@laker6943 Yeah, but Lake Mead is 150 FEET lower than it was in 1998. CLIMATE CHANGE, MORON!
"Harnessing" the Colorado is a relative term...
What they needed was Flex-Seal
These men had to be on there toes at all times , God bless them ! 🙏🏻🇺🇸 I wouldn’t last a half hour in there ! Lol ,
Are there any plans to remove the silt and sediments on lake floor that has been build in up and reducing storage capacity for 50 years?
What do you mean?
@@billieclark8870 As the water travels down the Colorado River, silt and sediment in water travels with it, as it reaches the dam the currents have a twirling effect and sediment/silt settles to the bottom over the years this has been building up at the base of the dam on the Lake Powell side...Think of rivers and current constantly changing the open waterway passages with silt, then needing dredgers to come in and open the shipping channels so ships can continue down the river safely...
@art Grosch
Wow! So one day the lake will be full of sediment right?
@@billieclark8870 doubt that,,, if the sediment gets to much around the dam it could cause problems for water entering for turbines or bypass tunnels to operate, they will definitely do what is needed to remove obstacles ...
@@billieclark8870 Civilization will be LOOOOOONG gone by then. No need to worry...
There is a corresponding documentary on the Glen Canyon Dam construction posted on YT. From 1956 to completion and also covers diversion tube flood damage. Go to YT search " Glen Canyon Dam construction documentary " It'll be there. Whether you agree or disagree with the project its incredibly amazing what was done.
The heat of summer cut like a hot knife
Record snowfall in Utah this year, we’ll see how well the spillway has lasted over the last 39 years…
Damn the Damn Dam, Damn good Video about the Dam ...
It's an established fact that the top 4 feet of Lake Powell (which can be seen by Mr. Magoo from orbit) was being held back by marine plywood sheets on the radial gates. 3/4" plywood sheets, I might add. Lake Powell.
Taming the beast 👍
Well now it's 2023 and from all hydrological modeling, those spillways won't ever be used again during the remaining lifespan of Glenn Canyon Dam.
WOW
There´s NO way you can get me to go into that tube. It would freak me out, and I´m virtually phobia free, but this... :D
going in after the first time was easier,,,, the thing that freaked some out and they would then quit, was so much pressure all around the concrete liner (tube) and water would be shooting out 5 foot in tiny steam from pressure behind it....in different locations all around and up and down tunnel....working in water day and night....I gained so much respect for these extremely hard working miners, they would ride and kid each other thru the whole shift and if you didn't carry your share of work they let you know......oh yeah and the whole time working in rain gear because water coming down all over the place.... we would get off work and drive one mile to town, the Cove lounge to get a drink and sit next to fireplace to dry off.....but that's when that old saying comes in " go for one stay till one " ,,,, you think we would have learned after the first couple weeks,, but we didn't....
@@artgrosch1215 I like reading your comments Art!
Ah 1983..when water was plentiful to allow spillway gates use now...well so different.
The all-time snowpack record in the Colorado drainage was beaten yet again about 10 years ago. By the end of the year both Powell and Mead had DROPPED below the previous year's mark. What does that tell you? It tells me that nature can no longer supply as much water as downstream users are consuming even in a record water year.
Blaming this on "global warming" is nonsense. Overpopulation and wasting water on idiocy are the causes of the continuing drop in water levels. Powell and Mead will dry up regardless of what the weather does.
Wrong, it's called re-greening. Turn the deserts back into gardens again. Then you'll have all the water you need.
@@ericanderson4801 Las Vegas population in 1983 500k, population in 2021 2.7 million, and they want you to think it's global warming
@@dancollins8296 It's both - overpopulation/overconsumption and climate change. We in the west are fucked...
This may have been the last time we'll ever see water go over those spill ways.
Another history of Glen Canyon DAM--> @Infra Hub
Some bright spark thought that Handel's "Water Music" was appropriate, without realising that it was really called Music for the Royal Fireworks.
Awesome job all! Gave me the eebee jeebees seeing people in tunnels with leaking water. NO THX!
How times have changed. Math can show that even a decade of continuous annual record runoff seen here would not be enough to top off Lake Powell and Mead at its current state.
You don't mess with Mother Nature!
James Benedict she ain't my mutha
What did the fish say when he hit his head?
Dam!
19:36
Shave and a haircut, 2 bits!!!
👍
Oh wow this must of been where they filmed the ending of Cherry 2000.
No, that was Hoover Dam.
Health & Safety nightmare at 9:35 guy sliding down the radial gate no safety rope or anti-drop line with the spillway running below
hearts to all
They have the opposite problem today.
Dam
It looks like one solution would have been to use those by pass tubes t o draw the lake down every year before the peak runoff.
you have to remember why the dam was built, water storage and control for floods downstream.....every inch of water stored in lake behind dam is a enormous amount of money, being generated by generators in the dam, trying to keep all the water you can but not have to much so future runoffs can be contained is a gamble every year.......in 82 and 83 more water came in than expected..... 2 years out of 60 is pretty good job...but lessons were learned......I know cause was on this job from start to finish.....Newberry Elec, under Guy F. Atkinson Contractor.....
@@artgrosch1215 I have a license as a civil engineer and understand all of that. BUT you cannot ignore the safety issues if the dam exceeds its designed storage capacity. I have never seen a dam that did not take into account a storm of at least a 100 year storm. You also have to take into account when designing the potential for development. Shopping malls increase the amount of runoff.
Regardless you start the rainy season with a reduced volume behind the dam to prevent the dam capacity from causing a problem, normally there are two capacities one for power generation and one for flood control. Y9ou do not want to start the rainy season at 100% of flood control capacity.
on both sides of the dam there are runoff tunnels, to release water as needed, or for emergencies,, the engineering principles used in building this dam and others at that time used this type of engineering, which was thought to be the best. They found out when finally needed, and used, that cavitation at the bottom elbow caused massive failures, in tunnell, and those walls also were holding the dam in place, more erosion of the tunnels could weaken the canyon walls....When dam was built, like others in the West they thought they had addressed all safety concerns, they didn't have computers to prove designs that were the best at that time..This just proves again how much we have advanced as a society with better and better methods and now we have means to prove before those choices are proven right or wrong. I did read somewhere later where the agency did say they were caught off guard, 1 by the severity of storms and the way they kept coming in,,,, never seen weather like this ..... 2 also the governing agency has to work with the 6- or 7 Governors of surrounding states, that lakes and streams pass thru, including the Colorado River... getting them to agree to release water early when no one was predicting weather like this was a impossible task....Just another example of Americans waiting till they are forced to confront a catastrophe.
@@artgrosch1215 I understand but there are situations where an open overflow should be used. With this dam the out flows are gated and require human action and mechanical equipment to open. Equipment like that fails more often than people realize.
@@johnmcmickle5685 Amazon is taking good care of less runoff. Shopping Malls are a thing of the past, so less shopping Malls-less runoff. Thank Amazon.
Wow. Uploaded by a cool guy.