The Portugués Dam (Spanish: ''Represa Portugués'') is a

roller-compacted concrete Roller-compacted concrete (RCC) or rolled concrete (rollcrete) is a special blend of concrete that has essentially the same ingredients as conventional concrete but in different ratios, and increasingly with partial substitution of fly ash for po ...

thick

arch dam An arch dam is a concrete dam that is curved upstream in plan. The arch dam is designed so that the force of the water against it, known as hydrostatic pressure, presses against the arch, causing the arch to straighten slightly and strengtheni ...

on the Portugués River, three miles (5 km) northwest of the city Ponce, in Barrio Tibes,

Ponce, Puerto Rico Ponce ( , , ) is a city and a Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The most populated city outside the San Juan, Puerto Rico, San Juan metropolitan area, Ponce was founded on August 12, 1692Some publ ...

. Construction on the dam began in April 2008, soon after the

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the military engineering branch of the United States Army. A direct reporting unit (DRU), it has three primary mission areas: Engineer Regiment, military construction, and civil wor ...

, Jacksonville District awarded the

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firm Dragados USA, a division of

Grupo ACS ACS, Actividades de Construcción y Servicios, S.A. () is a Spanish company dedicated to civil engineering, construction, all types of services and telecommunications. It is one of the leading construction companies in the world, with projects ...

, with a $180 million contract in March 2008 to build the dam. The primary purpose of the dam is

flood control Flood management or flood control are methods used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters. Flooding can be caused by a mix of both natural processes, such as extreme weather upstream, and human changes to waterbodies and ru ...

; it provides flood protection for 40,000 people and over 13,000 residential structures. The dam is the final component of the Portugués and Bucana Flood Protection Project and the first dam of its type constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the

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. The final cost of the dam was estimated at $375 million; 75% is funded by the

U.S. Government The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct branches: legislative, executi ...

and 25% by the

Government of Puerto Rico The government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, organized under the Constitution of Puerto Rico since 1952, is a republican democracy modeled after the Federal Government of the United States. Under a system of separation of powers, the ...

.USACE Portugues Dam Brochure - April 2009
It is the first dam ever built in the United States that uses the single-centered roller-compacted concrete thick arch technique. An estimated inauguration date of October 2013 was announced in 2011 but was not met. Subsequently, an inauguration date of 28 January 2014 was also announced.''A punto de caramelo la represa Portugués.''
Reinaldo Millán. La Perla del Sur. Ponce, Puerto Rico. (Printed Edition: Title: A pesar del cierre federal: A punto de caramelo la represa Portugués; Date: 16 October 2013; Year: 31; Issue: 1559. Page: 20.) Retrieved 16 October 2013. The dam was structurally completed in December 2013 and inaugurated on 5 February 2014. The dam is operated by the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources.

History and construction

The first government official known to have proposed building a dam to tame

Rio Portugues Rio or Río is the Portuguese and Spanish word for "river". The word also exists in Italian, but is largely obsolete and used in a poetical or literary context to mean "stream". Rio, RIO or Río may also refer to: Places United States * Rio, Fl ...

from its devastating effects on the lives and properties of Ponceños was Ponce's 1899 Municipal Engineer-Architect Ramon Gandia Cordoba in his 16 March 1899 report titled ''Estado Actual de Ponce: Sus Necesidades y Medios Economicos para Satisfacerlas'' (Current State of he Municipality ofPonce, its Needs, and the Financial Means to Satisfy Them). It was a report to the Mayor of Ponce, Luis Porrata-Doria. Up to that point, the recommended solution to control the river had generally been to change its course, but Gandia Cordoba opposed it recommending instead that a dam be created. While other measures were undergone, such as widening the path of the river within the city of Ponce, no dam-building would take place for over seven decades. Since the 1970s, the

had been investigating a site to build the Portugués Dam. Despite the many different geographic challenges, the Army Corps was able to choose a suitable dam location and double-curvature thin arch dam design in the 1980s. In the 1990s, foundation test

grout Grout is a dense substance that flows like a liquid yet hardens upon application, often used to fill gaps or to function as reinforcement in existing structures. Grout is generally a mixture of water, cement, and sand, and is frequently employe ...

ing and foundation curtain grouting along with the excavation of of material for the left and right

abutment An abutment is the substructure at the ends of a bridge span or dam supporting its superstructure. Single-span bridges have abutments at each end that provide vertical and lateral support for the span, as well as acting as retaining walls ...

s took place. When the dam was advertised for construction in 2000, only one proposal was received, and its cost was over the government's budget. To reduce costs, a five-year technical review program was started to research new, lower-cost designs for the dam. The investigation resulted in a lower cost design, switching from the double-curvature thin arch to a single-centered roller-compacted concrete thick arch. Proposals for the dam were requested in 2007 and Dragados USA was awarded an $180 million contract in March 2008 to finish the dam project. Construction on the dam began in April 2008 and consisted of five phases. Phase 1, at a cost of $24.5 million, included the mobilization, clearing, quarry overburden excavation, power-line relocation activities; Phase 2, costing $47.6 million involved the foundation excavation, aggregate production, dental concrete chores; Phase 3, budgeted at $37.3 million, comprised the aggregate production, and ½ dam RCC placement tasks; Phase 4, at $41.1 million, involved the final dam RCC placement, the spillway, and the intake structure jobs; and Phase 5, at a cost of $29.7 million included the remaining items, such as the valve house, the access road, and mechanical and electrical structures. As of March 2011, Phase 3 work was underway and the project was 48% complete. The rolled-compacted concrete production facilities had been completed, 700,500 tons of aggregate (for use in concrete) had been produced while foundation preparation continued. RCC placement was placed in of dam. Construction was initially expected to be completed by 2012, but was later postponed. In December 2013 the dam was completed and its inauguration occurred on 5 February 2014. Pending reservoir-filling and testing of the dam, making it operational was announced for early 2015.

Dam characteristics

The Portugués Dam is a high and long single-centered roller-compacted concrete thick arch. Containing of roller-compacted concrete, it is thick at its base and thick at its crest. The dam has an uncontrolled

spillway A spillway is a structure used to provide the controlled release of water downstream from a dam or levee, typically into the riverbed of the dammed river itself. In the United Kingdom, they may be known as overflow channels. Spillways ensure tha ...

center-left side, over the river bed; below the dams crest of above sea level. The center of the dam straddles an intake and outlet structure which will draw water from behind the dam and discharge it into the river valley.

Archeological findings

During excavation, a

Pre-Columbian era In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European col ...

ceremonial plaza (" batey" or ball court) used by the ancient Tainos was discovered at a construction site used for disposing of the Portugués Dam's construction rubbish. A long row of intricately carved stones bearing

petroglyph A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...

s that appeared to date to the 11th or 12th century was also discovered. Additionally, a burial ground containing 40 well-preserved sets of human remains was discovered. Fifteen percent of the site was believed to have been uncovered up to that point and it was reported that as many as 400 bodies may be buried there. The site had been initially marked during a cultural resource survey in 1979 but excavation work in 2007 prompted the major discovery.USACE Discovery of Pre-Columbian era Site Yields Rare Treasure 2009
The Army Corps of Engineers found an alternate rubbish disposal site and performed mitigation work in order to preserve the site, adding $3 million in additional project costs. Despite objections of locals, the Army Corps was bound by federal law and had to transport artifacts and human remains to a federally-approved laboratory in

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. The artifacts and human remains would, reportedly, be returned to

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

when the investigation is complete. The site was covered, awaiting future excavation.

Gallery

1163269 Aerial view of the Portugués Dam in Ponce, Puerto Rico 2014.jpg, Aerial view of dam, 2014

References

External links