{"id":33121,"date":"2013-12-10T12:10:54","date_gmt":"2013-12-10T18:10:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/?p=33121"},"modified":"2013-12-11T10:18:09","modified_gmt":"2013-12-11T16:18:09","slug":"near-catastrophe-during-flooding-highlights-issues-at-dam-in-austin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2013\/12\/10\/near-catastrophe-during-flooding-highlights-issues-at-dam-in-austin\/","title":{"rendered":"Near-Catastrophe During Flooding Highlights Issues at Dam in Austin"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Crews<\/a>

Austin Energy<\/p>

Crews work to dislodge a barge from Longhorn Dam, the dam that creates Lady Bird Lake in downtown Austin.<\/p><\/div>\n

A lot of people who walk or drive past Lady Bird Lake<\/a> in downtown Austin probably assume it\u2019s a natural feature. They appreciate the trails and parks that line the lake’s 416 acres, unaware of the series of floodgates on the Longhorn Dam that hold its waters in. But recent flooding along the waterway has called attention to longstanding mechanical problems at the dam, problems that the City of Austin is aware of, but hasn’t found the money to address.<\/p>\n

While its been called the “jewel in the crown” of Austin, Lady Bird Lake was created to serve a utilitarian purpose: to provide water for a now-decommissioned gas power plant in the Holly neighborhood of East Austin. Because of its connection to the power plant, the dam is operated under the supervision of Austin Energy<\/a>, the city’s publicly-owned electric utility. Built in 1960, the floodgates on Longhorn Dam have stored and released water from the lake for over 50 years. Now that age is showing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been a lack of maintenance on the dam for the last 15 years,” Dennis Hipp, a recently-retired Austin Energy employee tells StateImpact Texas. “It\u2019s steadily gotten worse and it\u2019s to the point now where it\u2019s going to start doing some damage. [Both] upstream and down.”<\/p>\n


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