PIEDMONT, Mo. -- Workers at Clearwater Dam have spent the past week conducting heavy maintenance they say is critical to the 69-year-old structure's operation.
It is the kind of care that may be annual, but is anything but routine, according to operation and maintenance team leader Russell Cooper.
"This type of maintenance has been going on since the dam was constructed," Cooper explained during a tour of the gatehouse structure, which sits nearly 150 feet above the floor of Clearwater Lake. "I think that's why it's in such good condition now, because of that preventative maintenance."
The maintenance crew removed a 22-ton water control gate last week with the goal of examining each of its components for signs of rust or irregularities. The weight is equal to about 10 Ford F-150 pickup trucks.
The gate is now back in operation, with only a few signs of rust found and repaired.
Four sets of stainless steel roller chains, which weigh up 1,200 pounds each, received the same treatment.
These chains keep the gate centered on a steel track. Stainless still cables more than an inch thick raise and lower the gate through the use of a 15 horsepower motor, a little bigger than the type used in a typical push mower, but smaller than what could be found on most johnboats floating Clearwater Lake.
The gearing system is so efficient, in fact, that a worker can raise each 22-ton gate with a hand-crank, one handed, Cooper said.
It isn't advances in the technology that make this possible, though.
All of the systems are original to the construction of Clearwater Dam, which was completed in 1948, after delays caused by World War II.
"It says a lot for the architects and engineers that designed it," Cooper said. "Even though technology has increased, the folks that built that were definitely skilled tradesmen and you can tell they took a lot of pride in their work."
From the gates to the electric hoists, workers use the same equipment installed three generations ago.
Maintenance crews remove one of the intake structure's three gates every year for this inspection and repair process. An emergency gate is set in place during of the gate that is removed, but the structure has multiple redundancies in place, Cooper said. It could operate from just one gate, he said.
Clearwater Dam has a primary mission of flood control.
"We can see immense rises in a 24 hour period of time if we get a large rain event upstream," Cooper said. "That's why the dam was created, to help control that and alleviate that downstream. Of course, there are a lot more people that live downstream than when the dam was constructed."
Maintenance is critical to the dam's mission, Cooper said.
"When we go down there and there's a large rain event and we need to close the gate, it needs to operate just as it was designed," he said. "The only way we can ensure that's going to take place is by performing annual preventative maintenance."
The maintenance crew is also continuing to make repairs following spring flooding, which led to a new record crest for the lake.
Approximately 20 of the project's 324 campsites remain closed due to damage to electrical services. Continued cleanup of flood debris and dead trees remains, and repairs to bank erosion. Flood repairs will likely continue for the next year, dependent on funding, Cooper said.
The maintenance crew is comprised of Cooper, civil engineer technicians Matt Brown, Ronald Sutton and Logan Brinkley, and summer employees Grant Bell and Yvone White.