Knowledge Bank

Reservoir planning and construction for the purpose of fresh water storage is a critical problem of many cities today. Several problems arise in the building of the dam and reservoirs due to the geology of the areas selected. In many instances the reservoir is direly needed to alleviate a water shortage and the public pressures sometimes influence hasty but poor long range planning decisions. The results in a few years can be very expensive as is the case at hand for the City of Columbus. Shore erosion or the soft Bedford shales and glacial tills along with siltation of the reservoir and increased hardness of the water have made the surface water storage and treatment process more costly than originally proposed. It is assumed that areas with similar problems might profit from this experience.