Sujono, J.
Survey Report:
Hydrological Analysis of the Situ Gintung Dam Failure
Joko Sujono
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Gadjah Mada
Jalan Grafika No.2, Yogyakarta 55281, Indonesia
E-mail: jsujono@ugm.ac.id
[Received July 11, 2012; accepted September 20, 2012]
Early on the morning of March 27, 2009, the Situ Gin-
tung dam, located near Jakarta, Indonesia, and with
an catchment area of 3.1 km2 , failed and flooded the
area below it. This disaster has awakened most of
the Indonesian people, especially those who are con-
cerned about hydraulic structures, natural disasters
and sustainable water resources management. Dur-
ing the disaster, about 100 people died and a number
of people went missing. There are hundreds of dams
like the Situ Gintung dam and other big dams have
been built in Indonesia. Most of these dams pose a
high potential hazard to life and property if a fail-
ure or levee breach occurs. Dam failures may occur
at different locations such as spillway, embankments
and foundations. The failure may occur as a result
of a number of problems such as overtopping, sur-
face erosion, and piping. Dam failures due to spillway
problems may occur, for instance, as a result of inade-
quate spillway capacity (overtopping) or spillway loss
by erosion (surface erosion). In this study, the Situ
Gintung dam failure has been analyzed based on hy-
drology analysis. Results show that heavy monsoon
rainfall was not the main cause of the situ Gintung
dam failure. The daily rainfall on March 26, 2009,
was 113 mm that equal to a 10 year return period.
Reservoir routing shows that there was no overtop-
ping during March 27, 2009, flood, the maximum wa-
ter depth on the spillway is 0.63 m. Assuming that
maintenance was done well, the spillway was still safe
under a 100 year return period with the maximum
water level is +98.95 m. It means that the embank-
ment was still safe with 1.05 m freeboard. Due to high
water flow velocity, however, surface erosion may oc-
cur at the end of a chute spillway that consists of silt,
clay and sand. Continuous scoring/erosion happened
throughout the spill over the spillway, which started at
around 06:00 pm and lasted until 03.00 am, resulting
in a big pond at the chute spillways and surrounding
areas. This phenomenon adversely affected the insta-
bility of the spillway structure. As a result, the spill-
way failure occurring resulted high flow discharge that
reached more than 425 m3 /s.
Keywords: dam failure, flood routing, spillway
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1. Introduction
Many dams have been built in Indonesia ranging from
massive hydroelectric complexes, to small earthen or ce-
ment structures largely used for flood control and irriga-
tion purposes. Although most dams are useful and safe
structures, the principles of dam construction – especially
on a medium to large scales are difficult and precise. In
addition, routine maintenance especially for old dams,
may be ignored.
One of the earthen dams in Indonesia built in 1933
during the Dutch colonial era was the Situ Gintung dam
located at Cirendue, Banten Province, just southwest of
Jakarta. The dam, with 1.1 million m3 of water with
around 21 ha of inundated area, was originally built for
irrigation purposes. Later on, however, due to rapid de-
velopment in the area, it was changed to a residential area.
Since then, the dam has been mainly used for water con-
servation and as a recreational area.
Early on the morning of March 27, 2009, a Situ Gin-
tung dam failure occurred, awakened most of the Indone-
sian people, especially those who have concerns about hy-
draulic structures, natural disasters and sustainable water
resources management. About 100 people died during the
disaster. The dam failure has destroyed the downstream
area of the dam including houses and infrastructures.
According to some witnesses, the overflow through the
spillway started in the evening, continuing until night.
Just at the end of the chute way emerged a pond that may
have occurred due to scouring process. Early in the morn-
ing, the spillway collapsed, followed by levee breaching
at the left and right sides of the spillway with a total length
of around 30 m as shown in Fig. 1 [1].
There are hundreds of dams like the situ Gintung dam
and other big dams in Indonesia. Most of these dams pose
high or potential hazard to life and property if a failure
or levee breach occurs. Dam failure can occur with lit-
tle warning. Based on the Situ Gintung dam failure and
realizing that there are many such dams in Indonesia, the
study on the possible causes of dam failure is essential as
a lesson disaster in risk reduction for other dams.
2. Dam Failure
2.1. History
A dam failure is a catastrophic type of failure that gen-
erally occurs with little warning and the severity of flood-
Journal of Disaster Research Vol.7 No.5, 2012

Fig. 1. Situ Gintung dam breach.
ing depends upon the size of the reservoir behind the dam
and the extent of the failure [2]. Catastrophic dam fail-
ures have occurred frequently throughout the last century.
Between 1918 and 1958, for example, 33 major U.S. dam
failures caused 1,680 deaths. From 1959 to 1965, nine
major dams failed worldwide. Some of the largest disas-
ters in the U.S. resulted from dam failures. In 1889, 2,209
lives were lost when the South Fork Dam failed above
Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The 1928 St. Francis Dam fail-
ure killed more than 500. During the 1970s the Buffalo
Creek, Teton, and Toccoa Creek dam failures collectively
cost 175 lives and more than $1 billion in losses.
The most catastrophic dam failure occurred in China
in August 1975 when the Banqiao Dam located in Zhu-
madian Prefecture in China’s Henan Province collapsed.
The dam was designed to withstand a 1,000-year flood
(306 mm/d). In August of 1975, however, a 2,000-year
flood occurred, and poured more than a year’s rainfall in
24 hours (189.5 mm/h and 1,060 mm/d), exceeding aver-
age annual precipitation of about 800 mm, which weather
forecasts failed to predict, produced by the collision of
Super Typhoon Nina and a cold front. According to
the Hydrology Department of Henan Province, approxi-
mately 26,000 people died in the province from flooding,
and another 145,000 died during subsequent epidemics
and famine. In addition, about 5,960,000 buildings col-
lapsed, affecting 11 million residents [3].
Zhang, et al., [4] compiled more than 1600 dam failure
cases throughout the world excluding China. A list of dam
failures and their possible causes worldwide from 1864 to
2009 and possible causes of dam failure can be found in
Wikipedia [3].
2.2. Possible Causes of Dam Failure
Dam failures are usually a secondary effect of mas-
sive rainfall and flooding, and occur when too much wa-
ter enters the spillway system. This occurs with little or
no warning. Severe thunderstorms and heavy rainfall are
also contributory factors. Additionally, poor engineering
or poor maintenance may also cause dam failures. Both
human and natural factors thus may lead to dam failures
with catastrophic consequences. He et al. [5] analyzed the
data on dam failure events occurring in China from 1954
Journal of Disaster Research Vol.7 No.5, 2012
Hydrological Analysis of the Situ Gintung Dam Failure
Fig. 2. Location of Situ Gintung dam.
to 2003. They mentioned that climate is the main factor
affecting the rate of dam failure.
Anderson et al., [6] stated that dam failure could be
classified into different types of failure including overtop-
ping, surface erosion, piping and mass movement. Dam
failure may occur at different location, such as spillways,
embankments and foundations as a result of a number of
problems, including overtopping, surface erosion, piping
and mass movement. Dam failure due to spillway prob-
lems may, for instance, occur as a result of inadequate
spillway capacity (overtopping) or spillway loss by ero-
sion (surface erosion).
FEMA [7] reported some expert considerations con-
cerning seepage through embankment dams i.e. (1) poten-
tial seepage problems and solutions associated with pene-
tration through embankment dams, e.g., outlet works con-
duits; (2) filter design criteria and observed performance;
(3) inspection of dams for detection of seepage problems,
failure modes associated with seepage and internal ero-
sion, and analysis of risks associated with seepage and
internal erosion; (4) investigation of seepage problems
and concerns at dams, including the use of geophysical
techniques, and instrumentation and measurement for the
evaluation of seepage performance; (5) remediation of
seepage problems through cut-off, reduction of flow, and
collection and control of seepage, including the use of
geosynthetics; and (6) the impact of the aging of seep-
age control and collection system components on seepage
performance.
3. Situ Gintung Dam
3.1. Location
The Situ Gintung dam is an old earth dam located at
Cirendue Village, Ciputat District, South Tangerang City,
Banten Province, just southwest of Jakarta. Fig. 2 shows
the location [8].
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