European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 5, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Daily Magazine dam. From his Back Yard he has a Clear View of the dam s wet Taco. We can see it s disintegrating but they re not telling us anything he complains. They were looking for a sparsely settled area so hey could Experiment Wilh this new Type of dam. And now we re stuck Wilh  it was the first in he world to employ a Quick and inexpensive construction technique in which Concrete is built up in layers like a cake instead of folded and Slabbed Twenty dams have been built since the roller compacted Concrete construction acc method was pioneered at Willow Cik. Acid unc Fiill Uia am still Peite cling to feb f. Of. J slip a View of Willow Creek dam and the town of Heppner ore., where a 1903 Flash flood claimed some 250 Tuitea. Best Little dam by a Tow site. Or is it by Marilyn n we Seelert. Associated press he. Torrent came at 5,30 o clock when most of the inhabitants were at their evening meal a were taken so suddenly that nothing could be done to save those who were caught in the Rushing Waters. Homes stores and All buildings in the principal portion of the Lawn Ware ton Loose and driven onward.". Thai was a haunting eyewitness account of a 1903 Flash flood that sent the swollen Waters of Willow Creek coursing through the Eastern Oregon Community of Heppner. Today residents wonder i it could happen again. The 5-year-old Willow Creek dam looms 170 feel aver the town of 1,376. Mostly Wermers ranchers and lumbermen. That the dam teams has been obvious irom the beginning recent reports that the dam also May be eroding have intensified the uneasiness on Wain  say oxygen depletion in the. Nut Neil Icin Reservoir has Lell pockets of chemicals corrosive enough to dissolve the Concrete Dah roughly Ono fifth of Heppner s population some 250 people died in the 1903 deluge which is listed in the guinness Book of world records As the worst disaster of its kind measured by per capita loss 61 life. Former mayor Cliff Green operates the hardware store where local heroes Bruce Kelly and Leslie mattock sole a pair of wire. Cutters so they could Cut fences and ride Cross country to warn downstream neighbors of the encroaching floodwaters. Their historic Rykje saved hundreds of residents in Lexington and Lone. A system at sirens stands ready to warn townspeople in the event of a Flash flood today but no warning could prepare hem for the worst Case scenario. A breach in the Willow Creek dam could inundate the town with 18 million tons of water the dam has been a Touchy subject among residents since before it was built. Opponents claimed the dam was. Unnecessary. Supporters then and now said they had Little Choice basically we Burl the dam to save main Street irom government regulations not from water says Green. Heppner has a history of Flash moods caused by the thunderstorms locals  the most recent in 1971, destroyed several Homes and prompted the Federal emergency management Agency to. Designate the downtown area As a flood Plain. V/.-. -. Feita spokesman Chuck Steele of Seattle said statistics showed the town faced a 1. Percent  a catastrophic flood in any Given year a 26 percent Chance of such a disaster within an average 30-year mortgage Cycle and a 67 percent Chance of a major flood within 100 years.-. " " Heppner is one of 258 communities nationwide built in flood Plains As defined by the flood insurance act of 1963, sleeve  designation requires residents 10 carry flood insurance and also bans any federally backed construction Loans unless measures Are taken to prevent future hooding. In Heppner it mean the town had to be rebuilt on higher ground or protected by a flood control dam. Green was one of those opposed to the dam but he finally resigned him sch to the Idee. What else was the town to do some people said by god they can t make you  like thai Green recalls. But they just did t understand Here was t any other  townspeople were bitterly divided by the Issue. But in 1981, it finally was approved by a vote of 297-272. A subsequent . Army corps of engineers feasibility study showed the Cost of the projects347-million outweighed the benefits. But sen. Mark Hayfield r-ore., pressed Lor the dam citing its potential to save lives. The decision to build the dam was vindicated before construction was v v completed Green says. In 1982, tire destroyed the Heppner Post of face the store next door and a vacant building near the Center of town. None could have been rebuilt under the Fema restriction de Hiemstra remains one of the most outspoken opponents of the Willow Creek. As Ronnie m. Lemons wrote in the october 1988 Issue of civil engineering Magazine. Even Wilh the technology As it exists today acc dams leak. As yet there is no consensus on How to Slop those leaks. When it first was filled in 1 983. The Willow Creek dam leaked nearly 3.000. Gallons a minute. A $2 million grouting project in i 984 reduced the leakage by 95pprcenl. A greater problem than leaking. However May be Iho corrosion of the dam from within in 1984, a study by environmental Engineer William Funk of the Washington slate University water research Center predicted water Quality problems at Willow Creek. With experience in Oiler cattle and sheep feeding areas Funk could predict a watershed Rich with the kind of nutrients thai can destroy Concrete. While not opposed to the dam he said its construction weighed heavily on his mind. I expected to see a real mess there he  Scien Ilses were surprised to lint water Quality deteriorating More rapidly and dramatically than Funk had anticipated. Alter four years of study. They still Are not sure what it All Means. We re not alarmed but we Are concerned says Doug Larson a Lake scientist who has spent years studying the Waters behind Willow Creek dam. We have All the compounds present that can deteriorate Concrete. We just Don t know How intense they Are. The big. Question is How quickly is this happening he says the answers Are at least eight months away. Consultants Are studying Trie geochemical processes occurring in the dam and the Reservoir while others Are analysing the presence of volatile methane gases and the effect of Concrete corroding acids. The corps reputation and Tui re is on the line says chill Green they can t say you be got a problem and it May break Send us h Post card thay have to ," David Sykes publisher of the local gazes times newspaper says lha corps already has loss credibility among the residents of  an angry editorial. Sykes demanded an Independent analysis of the dam s safely. " we need More than a dose of the corps publicity  Sykes wrote. We need some action to Tell the truth and ii should come from our elected representative sword is out that the Willow Creek dam is sick. The corps of engineers says Ever thing is Fine. But we the people of Heppner need a second opinion.". Monday december 5, 1988 the stars an d stripes. Page 13