11-foot wall of water: One dam breaks, three counties suffer

[KY_EnviroGuy]

9. Info and history on the Spencer Dam

From the posted article:

Despite its age, the Spencer Dam was still functional, and valuable.

Built in the late 1920s and owned by the Nebraska Public Power District since the early 1970s, it could still generate electricity when the utility needed it.

And it was in transition. NPPD was in the process of selling the dam, and its easements and water rights, to several northern Nebraska natural resources districts for $9 million, said utility spokesman Mark Becker.

He wasn't sure where the deal stood after its failure, he said. And NPPD didn't yet know why Spencer Dam failed, though a helicopter carried a crew to the site Friday to examine what remained.

It was a flow-through hydroelectric dam, with garage-type doors that let water through, and Becker said it wasn't known whether the doors had been open or closed at the time. They disappeared downstream, he said.

A little history here:

Niobrara River
Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niobrara_River
(includes a photo of the dam during normal times)
(snip)

Spencer Dam, about 50 miles (80 km) from the mouth of the Niobrara, was the last operational hydroelectric plant on the river. The dam was built in 1927 and was operated by the Nebraska Public Power District. It includes two Westinghouse generators, with a combined capacity of 3,000 KW. In a 2015 agreement with Nebraska local and state government entities, NPPD agreed to decommission the dam in 2017. The dam was breached by flooding caused by a March 2019 storm.

Don't know how that reservoir was used, but beyond the horrible immediate damage downstream, one would think this failure may affect farm irrigation water supply as well as the public water supply to many towns on the river. Considering its age, the dam is probably a total loss.