Reservoirs: purpose

Water storage
Flood prevention
Power

Reservoirs: site selection
Hydrological considerations
Fundamental controls
topography
climate
geology

Water
added
Net amount of water
available for storage
Water
subtracted
+
Rainfall in river
basin
Infiltration
Evaporation
Transpiration
Runoff

Reservoirs: leakage
Water
added
Leakage from
reservoir
Water
subtracted
-
Rainfall in
river basin
Infiltration
Evaporation
Transpiration
Net amount of water
available for storage
Runoff

-
1. Dam bypass
2. Water table effects
Leakage via subsurface bypass due to siphon effect
Devonian strata
D
e
v
o
n
i
a
n

s
t
r
a
t
a

Devonian strata
Dol-y-gaer dam
Carboniferous strata:
Subsurface water flow
reservoir level
fracture and dissolution
flow routes
Reservoirs: leakage
Leakage buried channels beneath drift
50 km
Modern river/valley
Ancient river/valley
Sautet
dam and
reservoir
Bypass of reservoir in drift
Reservoirs: leakage
river
reservoir
before
after
water table divide
Leakage to next valley
Bedrock with a water
table and finite
permeability
new
water
table
Reservoirs: water table leakage-1

river
before
Bedrock with low
permeability: aquiclude
High
permeability
layer
Water table in aquifer
reservoir
after
High
permeability
layer
Modified water table in aquifer
Leakage to next valley
Reservoirs: water table leakage-2
Reservoirs: sedimentation
Worlds largest dam;
180m tall, 2km wide
84% sediment in rainy
season (june-sept)
drawdown and
sediment sluicing
during this period

Before
Water table
river
After - 1
reservoir
Raised water table
After - 2
reservoir
Failure and
slumping
due to
weakened
rock mass
Reservoirs: raised water table
Viaont dam disaster, Italy
Normal stress s
n
S
h
e
a
r

s
t
r
e
s
s

s
s

s
1,WT
s
3, WT
Unstable
Stable
s
1
s
3
s
s
= c + m . (s
n
- p)
p = pore fluid pressure
s
n
p = effective stress
Raising water table
Reservoirs: raised water table