John Hart Dam seismic upgrades: A massive earthworks undertaking

August 21, 2023

Early site works have been completed and crews are now using heavy equipment to begin earth moving and placement of silt curtains within a reservoir at the John Hart Dam near Campbell River on Vancouver Island.

It’s the first step in a long-awaited and massive seismic update project at the earth-fill and concrete structure which was built in the 1940s.

“This is mostly an earthworks project and we will be moving about 750,000 cubic metres of material,” explains Stephen Watson, senior stakeholder engagement adviser at BC Hydro. “That amount of material would fill about 300 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

“This includes primarily bringing in new material from a nearby pit site and also removing existing upstream and downstream material. We will also place about 6,400 cubic metres of concrete.”

Read the full story on the Journal of Commerce website