U.S. Water News Online
Lexington, Ky -- According to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), our nation's infrastructure is falling apart.
Nowhere is the deterioration of our infrastructure more apparent than in our nation's dams. In response to these concerns, the Association of State Dam Safety Officials (ASDSO) has compiled state and national estimates of the cost of dam rehabilitation. In the coming year, ASDSO will ask Congress to establish a national dam financing solutions program.
A nine-member task committee of ASDSO has concluded that the cost of upgrading or repairing all of our nation's non-federal dams would exceed $36 billion. The committee's report, "The Cost of Rehabilitating Our Nation's Dams: A Methodology, Estimate and Proposed Funding Mechanisms," states that almost one-third of this amount -- $10.1 billion -- is needed for the nation's most critical dams, those whose failure would cause loss of human life.
The states currently regulate more than 10,000 of these "high-hazard-potential" structures, and this number is increasing. ASCE's 2003 Progress Report for America's Infrastructure, released in September, judged dams as being in worse condition than reported two years ago. As dams merited a grade of "D" on the 2001 Report Card for America's Infrastructure, their continued deterioration is valid cause for concern, if not alarm. In the past two years, at least 21 dam failures have occurred in the U.S.
The May 2003 failure of Silver Lake Dam, in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, caused the failure of downstream Tourist Park Dam and the evacuation of more than 1,800 people in the city of Marquette. The failures resulted in more than $100 million in damage, including about $10 million damage to utility facilities, $4 million in environmental damage and $3 million to roads and bridges. Twenty homes and three businesses were damaged or destroyed.
The We Energies power plant, which generates half the electricity produced in the Upper Peninsula, was flooded, causing the closure of two nearby iron mines, and the layoff of about 1,100 mine workers for several weeks, until the power plant was repaired. The mine owner estimated that the shutdown cost the local economy about $1 million a day.
Also in May, several dams failed in North Carolina, causing the evacuation of approximately 75 homes and damages estimated at $12 million. The state is spending nearly $5 million to rebuild the Hope Mills dam, which provides a critical stream crossing.
For the past 20 years, ASDSO has worked to prevent such calamities. The association has been instrumental in the passage of dam safety legislation in the U.S. and in the establishment and strengthening of state dam safety programs.
However, ASDSO has long recognized that financial constraints on dam owners limit the effectiveness of state programs. Well over 50 percent of U.S. dams are privately owned; state and local governments, federal agencies and utilities own the remainder. Most dam owners are not wealthy and even those who possess considerable financial resources are often overwhelmed with the staggering costs of dam maintenance, repairs and upgrades.
"Maintain 'em or drain 'em" a motto adopted by the National Park Service Dam Safety Program, aptly expresses the dam owner's dilemma. Faced with the choice of repairing or upgrading a dam, or the less expensive option of draining a lake, many owners choose the latter course; however, where dams provide drinking water or flood control, dam removal may not be a viable alternative. The loss of a reservoir of any size often has negative economic and social impacts on local communities that have depended upon the impoundments created by dams for water supply, recreation and flood control.
The function of flood control has become increasingly important in recent years, as more and more development has occurred in historic floodplain areas protected by dams. As these dams deteriorate, they should be fixed or replaced, as dam removal leaves property in downstream floodplains highly vulnerable to flooding, says the association.
Dam owners faced with either option -- dam repair or dam removal -- often need financial assistance. In order to estimate the magnitude of this need, ASDSO established a nine-member task committee to develop a reliable estimate of the national cost of dam rehabilitation.
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