Alabama Power’s dam safety department recently held a safety tabletop exercise for Martin Dam on the Tallapoosa River, to allow employees and representatives from other agencies to simulate what could happen if an emergency occurred.
Martin Dam impounds water for the 182.5-MW Lake Martin hydroelectric project. The concrete arch gravity dam is 2,000 feet long and 168 feet high and has been in service since 1926.
This was the first in-person dam safety exercise Alabama Power has hosted since the COVID-19 pandemic began. An exercise planned for 2020 was canceled, while a virtual exercise was held in 2021. “Over the last two years, we’ve found some things work better virtually, but tabletop exercises aren’t one of them,” said Alabama Power Engineer Seth Green. “You just can’t replicate the in-person conversations.”
The dam safety department spends each day making sure dams across the state are stable and maintained to protect residents living nearby, the company said. Trained plant staff, dam safety engineers and independent dam safety experts conduct regular inspections of water-retaining structures, with emergency action plans in place.
“These exercises are an opportunity to coordinate with state and local emergency management authorities and other entities to review what we will do and how we will communicate with each other if something happens,” said Richard Mickwee, dam safety and surveillance supervisor for Alabama Power’s hydroelectric fleet. “We hold these meetings so we can all be prepared to keep the public protected should an actual event occur.”
It also gives the safety team a chance to see how effective its plans are and areas where it can improve.
Alabama Power employees, members of the National Weather Service, county and state emergency management agencies, representatives from Maxwell Air Force Base, the Alabama Department of Public Health, the Poarch Band of Creek Indians Emergency Management and others participated in the daylong simulation.
