monitoring of the dam revealed abnormal movement. although dams normally move, the left side of the el atazar dam was moving more than the right because a support built on the dam's right made that side less flexible. in 1977 a crack was noticed in the dam. by 1979 the crack had grown to 46 m (150 ft) in length and was repaired. inspection in 1983 revealed that the settling in the foundations and the movements of the dam had caused fracturing in the rock, resulting in significantly increasing the foundation's permeability. the crack has been treated and since then the problems have abated.