Impacts of Climate Change on the Environment, Increase in Reservoir Levels, and Safety Threats to Earthen Dams: Post Failure Case Study of Two Cascading Dams in Michigan

Climate change has received significant attention lately as it has adverse environmental impacts. Among them, rising water levels in the reservoirs are of key concern for infrastructures such as dams. Dam officials are compelled to reconsider dam safety with the increment in catastrophic floods and accelerated dam failure issues. Relatedly, there are numerous earthen dams in the US that may not be up to the current design standards as these dams are aging. They possess a higher risk of failure due to various factors such as defects in design geometry, geologic materials, and hydrologic deficiency due to extreme storms associated with changing climate. Hence, this study focuses on evaluating the impacts of climate change on earthen dams and spillways by conducting a post-failure analysis of the two cascading dams, Edenville Dam and Sanford Dam, located in Michigan, USA, that failed in series in May 2020. The study aims to accomplish three main objectives: 1) to identify the role of climate change on recent dam failures of Edenville and Sanford, 2) to perform a Windows Dam Analysis Modules (WinDAM) C simulation for the failure analysis of the two dams, and 3) to perform Hydrologic Engineering Center - River Analysis System (HEC-RAS) simulation for the failure analysis of both dams by observing downstream propagation of flood with the detailed evaluation of depth and velocity. The overall results show that extreme storms and flooding are associated with the increase in temperature and precipitation rates, impacting overall dam safety. Careful precautions should be undertaken before any of these catastrophic dam events occur. The analysis is useful for the dam agencies as they reconsider their guidelines and policies for future updates.