LOCALIZE IT: Ideas for local coverage of hazardous dams

EDITORS/NEWS DIRECTORS:

Thousands of dams in need of repairs or improvements are located upstream from homes, businesses or entire communities — posing a potentially deadly hazard if they fail.

An Associated Press analysis found that the number of such troublesome dams has been increasing. In some cases, needed repairs have been delayed. In other cases, new housing and business developments have put more people at risk from dams that originally were built in remote locations. Some older dams also weren’t designed to handle the more intense rainstorms produced by a warming climate.

Here are some contextual details — and potential questions — you can use in your own reporting on local dams, potentially to run alongside the AP story, US—Infrastructure-Neglected Dams, for release on Thursday, May 5.

DAMS BACKGROUND:

Dams are categorized by the hazard they pose were they to fail — from low to significant to high.

A high-hazard dam is likely to result in the loss of at least one human life if it were to fail. The failure of a significant hazard dam is likely to result in economic or environmental losses, but not the loss of human life. Damage from the failure of a low-hazard dam is less severe and often contained to the owner’s property.

Dams also are assessed by their conditions — ranging from satisfactory to fair to poor to unsatisfactory.

A dam in unsatisfactory condition has safety deficiencies requiring immediate action. A dam in poor condition typically has safety deficiencies that may realistically occur, meaning repairs are necessary. A dam in fair condition has no safety deficiencies in normal conditions but could have problems in extreme events, meaning owners may want to consider making improvements. A dam in satisfactory condition has no safety deficiencies, with acceptable performance in all circumstances.

Most dams are privately owned and regulated by state agencies. The frequency of required inspections varies by state, but they generally occur every one to five years for high-hazard dams. Regulators also require some dams to have emergency action plans, which include procedures to follow in case of a breach or failure and might also include maps of areas that could flood.

USE THIS CONTEXT:

The following paragraphs can be used as publishable material in local stories about the nation’s dams:

An Associated Press analysis tallied more than 2,200 high-hazard dams in poor or unsatisfactory condition across the U.S. — up substantially from a similar AP review conducted just three years ago. The actual number likely is higher, although it’s unclear because a couple states don’t track such data and many federal agencies refuse to release details about their dams’ conditions or the dangers they pose.

There are a variety of reasons for the rising number of troubled dams: A heightened emphasis by some state regulators has turned up new concerns. Deferred maintenance has resulted in worsened conditions. Dams that were built decades ago now often pose more of a hazard than originally envisioned because homes, businesses and highways have cropped up below them.

A changing climate also plays a role. A warming atmosphere can bring stronger storms with heavier rainfall that can overwhelm older dams lacking adequately sized spillway outlets.

The $1 trillion infrastructure bill signed last year by President Joe Biden will provide about $3 billion for dam-related projects, but that’s just a fraction of what’s needed for safety upgrades and repairs to the thousands of dams across the country.

LOCALIZING THE STORY:

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers maintains an online database called the National Inventory of Dams, which has information on about 92,000 dams across the U.S. The database includes such things as a dam’s location, when it was built, its dimensions and water capacity, its purpose, its owner and — in some cases — its hazard rating and condition assessment.

The National Inventory of Dams database is available at: https://nid.sec.usace.army.mil/#/

The AP used the online database in its analysis but also obtained data directly from states through public records requests. In some cases, the data the AP obtained contained more current information about a dam’s hazard rating or condition. In such instances, the AP substituted the data it obtained for that in the National Inventory of Dams to create a unique dataset. That dataset is available to subscribers of the AP’s data service through data.world. If your news organization is interested in participating in AP’s data distributions, contact apdigitalsales@ap.org for enrollment details.

Through public records requests, the AP also obtained copies of inspection reports and emergency action plans for hundreds of high-hazard dams listed in poor or unsatisfactory condition. Those documents also are available to AP data subscribers through data.world.

Copies of inspection reports and emergency action plans also can be obtained through the regulatory entities responsible for overseeing the dams. In most cases, that’s state governments.

The Association of State Dam Safety Officials maintains a contact list for officials in each state available through this website: https://damsafety.org/states

QUESTIONS TO ASK:

— Are there high-hazard dams in your area that are in poor or unsatisfactory condition? If so, what have recent inspections noted about these dams?

— Do these dams have emergency action plans? If emergency plans exist, do they include maps of any homes, businesses, schools or other facilities that could be in the flood zone if a dam failure were to unleash a torrent of water? Inspection reports and emergency action plans generally should be available through state regulatory agencies, although some may require public records requests to obtain them.

— What do those who live and work downstream from high-hazard dams know about the condition of those dams? A dam’s flood zone can extend for miles downstream, so some people may not even realize there is a potentially dangerous dam upstream from them.

— Do people have concerns about a potential dam failure, especially during heavy rainfall? Have they taken any precautions to try to safeguard their property? Are they able to evacuate on short notice?

— What are the owners doing to maintain the dams or make needed repairs? Most dams are privately owned. Though some are owned by individuals, others may be owned by neighborhood associations, special districts, public utilities or cities.

— Do dam owners have the money to make repairs? Are they aware of — or have they sought — any grants from state or federal entities to make upgrades or develop emergency action plans?

— Do the owners believe the regulatory rating process is fair, or do they believe they are being asked to make unnecessary improvements?

— Is a changing climate affecting the safety of dams? Does it seem like there have been more big rain storms with more frequent floods in your coverage area in recent years?

— Even if not directly attributing this to climate change, are regulators, dam owners or nearby residents looking into ways to modify dams to discharge larger quantities of water through their spillway outlets?

— Are there local efforts to remove old dams, either for safety reasons or environmental reasons? If so, has this generated opposition from those who like to use the lake for recreation or from nearby residents whose property values might decline if a lake were to be drained?