How Are Dams Built? 5 Steps
Date Posted: January 4, 2024
Posted In: Discussion,
From BigRentz: To build a dam, workers divert the water to then build on dry ground. Various methods like blasting diversion channels or creating cofferdams can divert water.
Dams make much of modern-day society possible — they create reservoirs that provide reliable water supply to our cities, farmlands, industrial projects and more. While they do so much for our communities, sometimes it’s easy to take them for granted. It’s not until looking at one of these massive underwater constructions that you might begin to stop and think, “How on Earth did we do that?”
If you’ve ever found yourself wondering this, keep reading. Here’s a step-by-step breakdown of how dams are built, their purpose and how they help our communities.
Table of Contents
- Step 1: Diverting the Water
- Step 2: Preparing the Dam’s Foundation
- Step 3: Supplying the Concrete
- Step 4: Creating the Dam
- Step 5: Filling the Reservoir
- FAQ About Dams
Step 1: Diverting the Water
The first step in building a dam is diverting the water. Construction engineers have a few ways of accomplishing this, but cofferdams and diversion channels are some of the most popular.
Cofferdams
While it may sound counterintuitive to say that building dams begins with building a dam, this is exactly what happens much of the time. Cofferdams are temporary structures that isolate a construction site from surrounding water flow. They can consist of soil, rock, concrete, sheet piles or other materials.