Cathleens Fall Hydro Dam

The River Erne, at 90 kilometers (60 miles long), is the second largest waterway in Ireland and has been the source of major hydroelectric development since 1946. One of the two massive hydroelectric dam structures on the waterway, Cathleens Fall, needed structural repairs to the 25 meter (82 foot) deep vertical shaft that runs through the body of the dam. The shaft is open to the upstream reservoir and was found to be a source of leakages as the river’s average flow is 92 cubic meters (3200 cubic feet) per second, rising to over 400 cubic meters (14,000 cubic feet) during a flood. In 1999, Krystol waterproofing was chosen to repair the leaking shafts.

Solution

According to the Supervising Engineer, of the Electric Supply Board for all of Ireland, “Krystol Internal Membrane (KIM) was used as an additive to reduce shrinkage of the new concrete and reducing leakage paths.”