CHEYENNE, Wyo.—The U.S. Bureau of Land Management and others are evaluating how to prevent a five-story earthen dam from failing and potentially washing out a highway in south-central Wyoming.
The Little Robber Dam holds back a 28-acre reservoir 15 miles north of the Colorado line. No homes are in the way of a dam failure but Wyoming Highway 789 is about a mile downstream.
The BLM says an outlet pipe on the dam has separated, causing water to erode the bottom part of the dam Monday and Tuesday.
The reservoir behind the dam holds about 200 million gallons of water—enough to fill more than 400 large swimming pools.
BLM spokeswoman Serena Baker says options being considered include using pumps to lower the reservoir so the dam can be repaired.
