Arizona Administrative Code
Title 12 - NATURAL RESOURCES
Chapter 15 - DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES
Article 12 - DAM SAFETY PROCEDURES
Section R12-15-1216 - Design of a High, Significant, or Low Hazard Potential Dam

a. Construct each spillway in a manner that avoids flooding in excess of the flooding that would have occurred in the same location under the same conditions before construction. The owner of a dam shall demonstrate that a spillway discharge would not result in incremental adverse consequences. In determining whether a spillway discharge of a dam would result in incremental adverse consequences, the Director shall evaluate whether the owner has taken any or all of the following actions: issuing public notice to downstream property owners, complying with flood insurance requirements, adopting emergency action plans, conducting mock flood drills, acquiring flow easements or other acquisitions of real property, or other actions appropriate to safeguard the dam site and flood channel.

b. Include a control structure to avoid head cutting and lowering of the spillway crest for spillways excavated in soils or soft rock. In the alternative, the design may provide evidence acceptable to the Director that erosion during the inflow design flood will not result in a sudden release of the reservoir.

c. Provide each spillway and channel with a minimum width of 10 feet and suitable armor to prevent erosion during the discharge resulting from the inflow design flood.

d. Ensure that downstream spillway channel flows do not encroach on the dam unless suitable erosion protection is constructed.

e. Ensure that each spillway, in combination with outlets, is able to safely pass the peak discharge flow rate, as calculated on the basis of the inflow design flood.

f. Not construct bridges or fences across a spillway unless the construction is approved in writing by the Director. The Director's approval may include conditions regarding the design and operation of the spillway and fencing, based on safety concerns.

g. Not use a pipe or culvert as an emergency spillway unless the Director approves the use following review of the dam design and site characteristics.

a. Unless directed otherwise in writing by the Director, the inflow design flood requirements for determining the spillway minimum capacity are stated in Table 4.

b. As an alternative to the requirements prescribed in Table 4, the Director may accept an inflow design flood determined by an incremental damage assessment study, based on the relative safety of the alternatives.

c. The Director may accept site-specific probable maximum precipitation studies in determination of the inflow design flood.

d. An applicant shall ensure that the total freeboard is the largest of the following:

a. Is capable of draining the reservoir to the sediment pool level. A low level outlet works for a high or significant hazard potential dam shall be a minimum of 36 inches in diameter. A low level outlet works for a low hazard potential dam shall be a minimum of 18 inches in diameter.

b. For a high or significant hazard potential dam, has the capacity to evacuate 90% of the storage capacity of the reservoir within 30 days, excluding reservoir inflows.

c. Has a filter diaphragm or other current practice measures to reduce the potential for piping along the conduit.

d. Has accessible outlet controls when the spillway is in use.

e. Has an emergency manual override system or can be operated manually.

f. Is constructed of materials appropriate for loading condition, seismic forces, thermal expansion, cavitation, corrosion, and potential abrasion. The applicant shall not use corrugated metal pipes or other thin-walled pipes except as a form for a cast-in-place concrete conduit. The applicant shall construct outlet conduits of cast-in-place reinforced concrete. The applicant shall design each outlet to maintain water tightness. The applicant shall construct each outlet to prevent the occurrence of piping adjacent to the outlet.

g. Has an operating or guard gate on the upstream end of any gated outlet.

h. Has an outlet conduit near the base of 1 of the abutments on native bedrock or other competent material. The applicant shall support the entire length of the conduit on foundation materials of uniform density and consistency to prevent adverse differential settlement.

i. Has an upstream valve or gate capable of controlling the discharge through all ranges of flow on any gated outlet conduit.

j. Has a trashrack designed for a minimum of 25% of the reservoir head to which it would be subjected if completely clogged at the upstream end of the outlet.

k. Has an air vent pipe just downstream of the control gate. The applicant shall include a blow-off valve at or near the downstream toe of the dam for an outlet conduit that is connected directly to a distribution system.

l. Has an outlet conduit designed for internal pressure equal to the full reservoir head and for superimposed embankment loads, acting separately.

a. An applicant shall demonstrate that reservoir storage during the inflow design flood will not result in incremental adverse consequences and that the design will not result in the inundation or wave damage of properties within the reservoir, except marina-type structures, during the inflow design flood. In determining whether a discharge will result in incremental adverse consequences, the Director shall evaluate whether the owner has taken any or all of the following actions: issuing public notice to upstream affected property owners, complying with flood insurance requirements, adopting emergency action plans, conducting mock flood drills, acquiring flood easements or other acquisitions of real property, or other actions appropriate to safeguard the dam site and reservoir. Permanent habitations are not allowed within the reservoir below the spillway elevation.

b. The applicant shall clear the reservoir storage area of logs and debris.

c. The applicant shall place borrow areas a safe distance from the upstream toe and the downstream toe of the dam to prevent a piping failure of the dam.

d. The applicant shall keep the top of the dam and appurtenant structures accessible by equipment and vehicles for emergency operations and maintenance.

a. The applicant shall provide an evaluation of the static stability of the foundation, dam, and slopes of the reservoir rim and demonstrate that sufficient material is available to construct the dam as designed.

b. The applicant shall not construct a dam on active faults, collapsible soils, dispersive soils, sink holes, or fissures, unless the applicant demonstrates that the dam can safely withstand the anticipated offset or other unsafe effects on the dam.

a. The applicant shall submit a review of the seismic or earthquake history of the area around the dam within a radius of 100 miles to establish the relationship of the site to known faults and epicenters. The review shall include any known earthquakes and the epicenter locations and magnitudes of the earthquakes.

b. The applicant shall identify the location of active or potentially active faults that have experienced Holocene or Late Pleistocene displacement within a radius of 100 miles of the site.

c. For a high or significant hazard potential dam, the applicant shall design the dam to withstand the maximum credible earthquake.

d. For a low hazard potential dam, the applicant shall use probabilistic or deterministic methods to determine the design earthquake. The magnitude of the design earthquake shall vary with the size of the dam, site condition, and specific location.

a. The analysis of minimum factors of safety shall include the effects of anisotropy on the phreatic surface position by using a ratio of horizontal permeability to vertical permeability of at least 10. The Director may require ratios of up to 100 if the material types and construction techniques will cause excessive stratification.

b. The applicant shall use tests modeling the conditions being analyzed to determine the strengths used in the stability analysis. The stability analysis shall include total and effective stress strengths appropriate for the different material zones and conditions analyzed. The stability analysis shall use undrained strengths or strength parameters for all saturated materials.

c. The applicant shall perform an analysis of the upstream slope stability for a partial pool with steady seepage considering the reservoir level that provides the lowest factor of safety.

d. A stability analysis is not required for low hazard potential dams if the owner or the owner's engineer demonstrates that conservative slopes and competent materials are included in the design.

a. The applicant shall determine the seismic characteristics of the site as prescribed in subsection (A)(6).

b. The applicant shall determine the liquefaction susceptibility of the embankment, foundation, and abutments. The applicant shall use standard penetration testing, cone penetration testing, shear wave velocity measurements, or a combination of these methods to make this determination. The applicant shall compute the minimum factor of safety against liquefaction at specific points and make a determination of whether the overall site is subject to liquefaction.

c. The applicant shall determine the safety of the dam under seismic loading using a pseudo static stability analysis, computing the minimum factor of safety if the embankment, foundation or abutment is not subject to liquefaction and has a maximum peak acceleration of 0.2g or less, or a maximum peak acceleration of 0.35g or less, and consists of clay on a clay or bedrock foundation. The applicant shall use in the pseudo static stability analysis a pseudo static coefficient that is at least 60% of the maximum peak bedrock acceleration at the site.

d. The applicant shall compute a minimum factor of safety against overtopping due to deformation and settlement in each of the following cases. The minimum factor of safety against overtopping can be no less than 2.5, determined by dividing the total pre-earthquake freeboard by the estimated vertical settlement in feet. The applicant shall determine the total vertical settlement by adding the settlement values of the upstream and downstream slopes.

e. The applicant shall perform a liquefaction analysis to establish approximate boundaries of liquefiable zones and physical characteristics of the soil following liquefaction for an embankment, foundation, or abutment subject to liquefaction. The applicant shall perform an analysis of the potential for flow liquefaction.

f. Other, more sophisticated analytical procedures may be required by the Director for sites with high seismicity or low strength embankment or foundation soils.

a. The design of any significant or high hazard potential dam shall provide seepage collection and prevent internal erosion or piping due to embankment cracking or other causes.

b. The Director shall review the filter and permeability design for a chimney drain, drain blanket, toe drain, or outlet conduit filter diaphragms on the basis of unique site characteristics.

c. The use of a geosynthetic is not permitted in a design if it serves as the sole defense against dam failure. The use of geotextiles and geonets as a filter or drain material or a geomembrane liner is permitted only in a location that is easily accessible for repair or if its excavation cannot create an unsafe condition at the dam. A geosynthetic liner is allowed under special conditions and in specific situations if it is subject to monitoring and redundant safety controls. The Director may impose conditions, including monitoring appropriate to the hazard classification, inspection, and necessary repairs, each performed every 5 years.

d. The applicant shall use armoring on any upstream slope of an embankment dam that impounds water for more than 30 days at a time. If the applicant uses rock riprap, it shall be well-graded, durable, sized to withstand wave action, and placed on a well-graded pervious sand and gravel bedding or geotextile with filtering capacity appropriate for the site.

e. The applicant shall protect the downstream slopes and groins of an embankment dam from erosion.

f. The minimum width of the top of an embankment dam is equal to the structural height of the dam divided by 5 plus an additional 5 feet. The required minimum width for any embankment dam is 12 feet. The maximum width for any embankment dam is 25 feet.