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 strengthen ...

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

Tibes Tibes (''Barrio Tibes'') is one of the 31 barrios in the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Together with Magueyes, Portugués, Montes Llanos, Maragüez, Machuelo Arriba, Sabanetas, and Cerrillos, barrio Tibes is one of the municipality's ...

Ponce, Puerto Rico Ponce (, , , ) is both a city and a municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government. Ponce, Puerto Rico's most populated city outside the San Juan metropolitan area, was founded on 12 August 1 ...

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

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

, Jacksonville District awarded the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

firm Dragados USA, a division of

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

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

flood control Flood control methods are used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters."Flood Control", MSN Encarta, 2008 (see below: Further reading). Flood relief methods are used to reduce the effects of flood waters or high water level ...

; 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

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

. The final cost of the dam was estimated at $375 million; 75% is funded by the U.S. Government and 25% by the

Government of Puerto Rico The government of Puerto Rico is a republican form of government with separation of powers, subject to the jurisdiction and sovereignty of the United States.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 The Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (PRDNER) is the executive department of the government of Puerto Rico tasked with protecting, conserving, developing, and managing the natural and environmental resources in Puert ...

History and construction

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

Rio Portugues Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil. Rio or Río may also refer to: Geography Brazil * Rio de Janeiro * Rio do Sul, a ...

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

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

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 fluid which hardens to fill gaps or used as reinforcement in existing structures. Grout is generally a mixture of water, cement and sand, and is employed in pressure grouting, embedding rebar in masonry walls, connecting secti ...

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 which 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. Portugues Dam, Puerto Rico - 2014

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 spans from the Migration to the New World, original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization of the Americas, European colonization, w ...

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

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

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

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

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

USACE - Portugués_DamPortugués Dam Details
{{DEFAULTSORT:Portugues Dam Buildings and structures in Ponce, Puerto Rico Dams completed in 2013 Arch dams Dams in Puerto Rico Roller-compacted concrete dams 2014 establishments in Puerto Rico Barrio Tibes