Wac bennett dam construction methods

A complicated conveyor system adjacent to the dam site mixed the moraine according to rigid specification for different zones of the dam. Dump trucks carrying tons of earth rattled through the dam site. These trucks poured over 57 million cubic yards or million tons of gravel, sand and rock over the course of the construction of the dam.

At the same time, work was being done to construct the power house deep within the east abutment out of the solid rock of the canyon wall. This massive chamber would house the hydroelectric generating facilities of the dam. Meanwhile deep underground, crews continued to pump concrete at measured pressures into the minute crevices of the foundation of the dam.

By the spring of the intake towers that would admit water into the subterranean powerhouse were nearing completion. The dam had now reached an elevation feet above the riverbed with only feet to go. Across the valley the spillway channel had been gouged out of the rock to provide an escape route if the reservoir ever threatened to overflow. This discharge channel is lined with concrete and extends 2, feet from the crest of the dam to a point feet above the downstream riverbed.

When opened, it can allow 9, cubic metres of water per second to be launched into Dinosaur Lake below. This spectacular sight draws hundreds of visitors when it occurs every few years. By July, the structure of the dam was nearing its final crest line. Meanwhile turbine components began arriving in Vancouver for transportation to the project where, deep down in the rock, the first five penstocks were ready to be connected to the power generating equipment.

During construction, the framework was put in place to enable expansion of the generating capacity of the dam. Over the years, five more generators have been added. Large contracting companies are now back in town upgrading the generating units. Two massive tunnels lined with concrete were built to allow spent water to exit the dam and rejoin the river once more.

Over miles of , volt transmission lines were laid from the dam site to the lower mainland via Prince George and Kelly Lake. Nearly 7, miles of aluminum cable conduct the power into the grid system. Pearkes dedicated this enormous dam to the service of the people of British Columbia. The Williston Reservoir was continuing to fill and would eventually stretch kilometres to a maximum depth of metres.

On September 22, over 3, people jammed into the huge underground power house to watch the premier switch on Peace Power. Now 40 years old, the W. C's power demand. C and it is the third largest hydroelectric development in Canada after Robert-Bourassa and Churchill Falls. In addition to the benefits related to the clean energy generated, the construction of the dam and the reservoir also provided economic opportunities for the province of British Columbia, for the newly founded provincially owned electric utility BC Hydro , and for the large number of workers.

These workers were involved in the planning, construction, operation, and maintenance of the project. The building of the dam and the reservoir were not without controversy. One controversy was caused by the significant negative environmental effects the project had on the immediate environment. In the process of creating Williston Lake, , acres of former forest land was flooded.

A second controversy related to the fact that the land had been inhabited prior to its flooding, therefore the flooding resulted in the displacement of the forty or fifty residents located in the Trench. Bennett was the Premier of British Columbia from to Bennett Dam, were part of the resource development for which Bennett was advocating.

In his opinion, harnessing nature would make British Columbia wealthy and support the emergence of an industrial economy as well as a society that was, "connected, institutionally anchored, urban, wealthy, and domestic. Bennett's convictions, and therefore the policies of his government, concerning hydroelectric development have been regarded as a manifestation of the ideology high modernity, also known as high modernism.

High modernism, along with the administrative ordering of nature and society, authoritarian state, and a "prostrate civil society which would be unable to resist high modernist plans", can be a recipe for disaster. Bennett's Two Rivers policy aimed to develop the hydroelectric potential of both the Peace and Columbia Rivers simultaneously.

The policy stemmed from Bennett's desire to wrest control of resources away from the federal government in regards to power development in the province. In response, Bennett turned his attention towards developing the Peace River's hydroelectric potential at the previously identified site of Portage Mountain by constructing a massive storage dam that would later be named the W.

Bennett dam. Ray Williston , the minister of land and forests for the provincial government at the time, proposed turning sections of the Peace and Columbia River basins known as the Rocky Mountain Trench into a source of power generation. The "Power Trench", as it was known, would provide not only electricity, but give the ability to control water flow for flood prevention and agricultural purposes in the U.

The study led to the conclusion that it would be cheaper to build on the Peace River, but only if a public company was used due to lower interest rates available to crown corporations. When plans for construction were given the green light on the W. Bennett Dam known as the Portage Mountain Dam during construction , clearing the soon to be reservoir was the first step in the process.

It was a massive undertaking which was completed on the shoestring budget of five million dollars by the Forest Service Branch. Components are located as far as m ft below ground and includes 10 generating units located deep underground in the powerhouse. The Main powerhouse structure is named the G. Shrum generating station. The project was widely seen as a success, especially considering its remote location far from civilization.

The construction of the W. Bennett Dam involved over twenty unions that were bound by ten-year contracts guaranteeing BC Hydro no lockouts or strike action. The men involved on the project were international, coming from around North America, Europe, and as far as Japan. During the construction process, the Portage Mountain lookout was one of the first buildings built so that tourists could view the progress on the dam.

From to , units 6 to 8 were refurbished to increase the plant capacity by 90 megawatts. The last unit of them, unit 7, was put into service on November 29, Units 1 to 5 have undergone complete refurbishment and upgrades, increasing the reliability and capacity of the first units installed at G. In the s, as well as the decades before and after, the economy of British Columbia had largely been based on the extraction of natural resources and had therefore been susceptible to fluctuations in the world's demand for the respective resources.

This was due to the fact that British Columbia had the country's highest real per capita income which resulted in high standards of living for its residents. Bennett's premiership and vision for his province though that British Columbia saw the realization of its hydroelectric energy potential. Bennett in March , laid out the plan in which he would pursue his Two Rivers Policy.

The building of the dam and the powerhouse and the creation of Williston Lake provided economic opportunities to the high number of workers who found employment with BC Hydro or one of the subcontractors; these workers included members of the local First Nations, non-native residents, non-residents, and immigrants. Hudson's Hope , a frontier town, was one of the communities in which many of the non-resident workers found a home; during the project, the population of Hudson's Hope rose from to over 5, in and dropped to less than 1, by the early s.

For a minority of people, many of whom were Aboriginal, environmental changes caused by the damming of the Peace River meant dependence, isolation, alienation, and illness. Many species of fish as well as mountain caribou and muskrats were no longer available for Aboriginal consumption or traditional use. These changes to First Nations independence through fur trade and the relocation of many Aboriginals to new reserves caused an influx in demand for government assistance through welfare.

Between and , social assistance provided by the Provincial government to Aboriginal groups in the areas surrounding the Bennett Dam increased by percent. As recently as October , the Kwadacha First Nation , another Aboriginal group residing in the Fort Ware area located at the north end of the Finlay Reach of Lake Williston, reached a settlement with the British Columbia government and BC Hydro over damages suffered during construction and operation of the dam and Williston Lake.

When the government, controlled by the Social Credit Party of British Columbia , dammed the Peace River to generate hydroelectricity it had already set into motion a series of social changes in the surrounding communities.

Wac bennett dam construction methods

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