Insights into the Eping Dam, China 2021 Spillway Incident

Abstract

The Eping Dam is located in Zhuxi County, Hubei Province, China. On September 1, 2021, due to continuous high-intensity flooding, the end of the spillway relief channel section was washed away from the antiarc section of the deflecting bucket, fortunately without inflicting any casualties. As an important spillway structure in dams, the spillway plays a vital role in the discharge of water from dams. However, many dam spillways currently suffer from poor geological conditions, hidden design flaws, substandard construction quality, and unreasonable operational management, which can magnify the defects of the spillway itself and result in catastrophic accidents after heavy rainfall. In order to prevent such accidents from occurring, this paper presented the occurrence and rescue process of the Eping Dam spillway incident, and conducted a comprehensive analysis of the underlying reasons behind the incident. The results indicate that the accident was primarily caused by the poor geological conditions of the spillway foundations, and by the failure of water stopping facilities, inadequate dam inspections, and inadequate safety assessments.