Location
Rock Island District, Nationwide
Description
Dam safety is the art and science of ensuring the integrity and viability of dams such that they do not present unacceptable risks to the public, property, or the environment. It requires the collective application of engineering principles and experience and a philosophy of risk management that recognizes that a dam is a structure whose safe functioning is not explicitly determined by its original design and construction. It also includes all actions taken to routinely monitor, evaluate, identify, or predict dam safety issues and consequences related to failure, including ensuring all reservoir regulation activities are performed in accordance with established water control plans. These actions are to be performed in concert with activities to document, publicize and reduce, eliminate, or remediate, to the extent reasonably practicable, any unacceptable risks.
The purposes of a dam safety program are to protect life, property, lifelines, and the environment by ensuring that all dams are designed, constructed, regulated, operated, and maintained safely and effectively as reasonably practicable. This is accomplished through routine inspections and assessments of the risks of each project, emergency action planning and preparedness activities, interim risk reduction measures, and instrumentation and performance monitoring.
Background
“Federal Guidelines for Dam Safety” was first published in June 1979 with the most recent update in 2004. The purpose of these guidelines is to enhance national dam safety and to encourage high safety standards in the management procedures and technical activities of Federal agencies. The guidelines require the head of each Federal agency having responsibility for design, construction, operation, and regulation of dams to establish a dam safety office (officer), which reports directly to the head of the agency. The Interagency Committee on Dam Safety (ICODS) was established in 1980 to promote and monitor Federal and State dam safety programs. The Corps of Engineers is the Department of Defense representative on ICODS.
Status
The Rock Island District Dam Safety Program is administered and monitored by the District Dam Safety Committee, comprised of Division and Branch Chiefs including the Dam Safety Officer and Dam Safety Program Manager. The Rock Island District Dam Safety Program presides over 26 USACE dams and 8 non-Federal dams. The hazard potential classifications of the 26 USACE dams are: 8 high hazard, 17 significant hazard, and 1 low hazard. Of the 8 non-Federal locations, 5 are high hazard and 3 are low hazard. The program is implemented by quarterly dam safety committee meetings to discuss and resolve issues at projects and is executed by District project delivery teams for all dam safety program deliverables. The Rock Island District has no authority to modify, improve or enforce repairs on dams outside of the Federal Dam Safety Program.
Authority
SI - Special Interest
Interagency Committee on Dam Safety (ICODS), WRDA 1996, Federal Guidelines for Dam Safety published June 1979, Executive Order 12148
Additional Information
Summarized Project Costs
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Estimated Federal Cost
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N/A
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Estimated Non-Federal Cost
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N/A
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Estimated Total Project Cost
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N/A
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Allocations Prior to FY 2024
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N/A
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FY 2024 Allocation
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$1,492,000
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FY 2025 President’s Budget
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TBD
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FY 2025 Total Capability
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$1,739,000
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Major Work Item Current Year
FY 2024: The program completed a periodic assessment of Marseilles Lock and Dam; periodic inspections of Lock and Dam 11, Lock and Dam 12, Dresden Island Lock and Dam, and Starved Rock Lock and Dam; dam safety performance monitoring and instrumentation for all district dams; emergency action plan updates for Lock and Dam 17, Lock and Dam 18, Lock and Dam 19, Saylorville Dam, Red Rock Dam; and tabletop exercises for Saylorville Dam and Red Rock Dam.
Major Work Items Next Fiscal Year
FY 2025: If funded, the program will move forward with periodic assessments of Farmdale and Fondulac Dams; periodic inspections of Lock and Dam 13, Lock and Dam 14, Lock and Dam 15; dam safety performance monitoring and instrumentation for all district dams; emergency action plan updates for Lock and Dam 13, Lock and Dam 14, and Coralville Dam; a tabletop exercise for Coralville Dam, and development of risk communication plans for Saylorville and Big Creek Dams.