The Cost of Rehabilitating Our Nation's Dams. A Methodology ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Table of ContentsEXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................... 3INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 7NATIONAL COST OF DAM REHABILITATION ................................................... 11IMPROVING ASSISTANCE AT THE STATE LEVEL ............................................ 16NEED FOR A FEDERAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM .............................................. 22RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................................................................... 23Attachment 1 Formulas ........................................................................................ 24Attachment 2 – National Dam Rehabilitation and Repair Act ................... 31Attachment 3 – State Dam Loan/Grant Funding Program Summary(2008) ........................................................................................................................... 36Attachment 4 – Model Law for State Supervision of a Low InterestRevolving Dam Rehabilitation Loan Program ................................................ 42Attachment 5: Project Ranking Model ............................................................... 472
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY• There are approximately 84,000 dams in the U.S. National Inventory of Dams.• Dams are a critical piece of the nation’s infrastructure.• There are currently over 4,400 unsafe dams across the U.S.• From 2005 through 2009, the states reported 132 dam failures.• The need for rehabilitation of many dams in the U.S. is critical and tops$51.46 billion• It is estimated that $16 billion is needed to rehabilitate the nation’s mostcritical dams.Without proper maintenance, repairs, and rehabilitation,a dam may become unable to serve its intended purposeand could be at risk for failure. State and federal daminspection programs can identify deficiencies in dams, butinspections alone will not address safety concerns posedby inadequately maintained or outdated dams. For mostdam owners, finding the funds to finance needed repairsor upgrades is nearly impossible. The lack of reliablefunding to resolve dam safety issues poses a threat topublic safety nationwide.In the thirteen since the establishment of the NationalDam Safety Program (PL 104‐303), public awareness ofthe nation’s dams—their sheer numbers, theirimportance, their safety requirements, and theircondition—has increased. The deficient condition ofmany of these structures is apparent; yet we lack afocused public policy to address the problem.The federal government has oftentaken a proactive interest infunding rehabilitation ofinfrastructure, especially when theinadequacies of the structuresthreaten public health and safety.Federal funding has been used tofund improvements to highways,bridges, airports, water supplysystems and waste watertreatment facilities. Yet, no federalfunding exists to rehabilitate mostdams in the U.S.Some of the strongest state dam safety programs in the U.S. were founded because of devastatingdam failures that took hundreds of lives and destroyed homes, businesses, infrastructure, and3
Page 1: THE COST OFREHABILITATINGOUR NATION
Page 7 and 8: In many cases, owners of dams that
Page 10 and 11: Some states have established innova
Page 12 and 13: The 2009 UpdateIn the spring of 200
Page 14 and 15: Hazard potential reclassificationPh
Page 16 and 17: adding all the costs in the total c
Page 18 and 19: IMPROVING ASSISTANCE AT THE STATE L
Page 20 and 21: DredgingEnhancements to hydropower
Page 22 and 23: Allowable project costs: Defines th
Page 24 and 25: NEED FOR A FEDERAL ASSISTANCE PROGR
Page 26 and 27: ATTACHMENT 1 ‐ FORMULASDams By Ca
Page 28 and 29: equire remedial action (B)(H)(M)(X)
Page 30 and 31: Earth Dams Equal to 15 Feet and Les
Page 32 and 33: Earth Dams Greater than 50 Feet in
Page 34 and 35: (2) by redesignating paragraphs (1)
Page 36 and 37: `(2) 2/3 divided among applying Sta
Page 38 and 39: ATTACHMENT 3 - STATE DAM LOAN/GRANT
Page 40 and 41: on the anticipated annual national
Page 42 and 43: dam owners. To be eligible for thes
Page 44 and 45: ATTACHMENT 4 - MODEL LAW FOR STATE
Page 46 and 47: Chapter 3. General ProvisionsArticl
Page 48 and 49: Chapter 4. Administrative Provision
Page 50 and 51: that the ranking is relative rather
Page 52:
Association of State Dam Safety Off
show all

The Cost of Rehabilitating Our Nation's Dams. A Methodology ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?