Drop in the bucket, but a start on dam repairs

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In the story of the Little Dutch Boy, a young boy returning home from school finds a leak in a dam and, recognizing the danger it posed, stuck his finger in the hole to plug the leak. There he stood resolute overnight until his calls for help were answered and the dam was fixed by neighbors and workers, saving his town. Rhode Island now finds itself in the Dutch Boy’s position, but currently there’s no one to answer the state’s call for help.

Compared to other infrastructure, such as roads or the utility grid, dams aren’t titillating. But there are 667 of them in the Ocean State, 96 of which are classified as high hazard, where a dam failure would result in a probable loss of human life and property. Another 81 are designated as a significant hazard, where there may be no loss of life but where failure may cause major economic loss.

While a dam’s hazard designation relates to the probable consequences of its failure, it does not relate to the current conditions or the likelihood of a failure. Dam designations can change over time as areas downstream continue to be developed.

Conditions of the major components of the dam are also subjectively rated as good, fair, poor or unsafe. In 2015, 41 Rhode Island dams were deemed unsafe.

Many of the state’s dams are remnants from the Industrial Age and are more than 100 years old. Some are publicly owned, others are private, while several have been abandoned entirely with no clear owners.

Rhode Island’s Department of Environmental Management (DEM) has the responsibility of inspecting dams to determine their condition, to review and approve plans for construction or substantial alterations, and to order owners who are legally responsible for failure damages to make repairs and take action to make a dam safe.

Visual inspections of high hazard dams are required every two years, while inspections of significant hazard dams are required every five years – a tall task. Low hazard dams are required to be inspected every five years to determine if conditions warrant raising the hazard classification. DEM will also visually inspect high and significant hazard dams whenever there’s reason to believe that the dam may be unsafe.

According to DEM’s 2015 report, their Dam Safety Program has only two full-time inspectors and that to successfully meet the requirements of current statutes another inspector is needed. They also cite a lack of adequate emergency plans and recent intense storms that can quickly change a dam’s safety rating as a concern.

Perhaps the most daunting challenge to dam safety is a financial one. About 35 percent of the high hazard and significant hazard dams in Rhode Island are privately owned, and the cost to repair these dams can range from the tens of thousands to the hundreds of thousands of dollars, a monetary impossibility for most.

At a recent Johnston press conference, Sen. Jack Reed highlighted his proposed legislation – the High Hazard Potential Small Dam Safety Act – that would authorize $445 million in federal grant assistance for high hazard dams nationwide, with Rhode Island slated to receive up to $700,000 per year if approved.  

While DEM Director Janet Coit acknowledged at the conference that it would take years to address and fix the Ocean State’s dam issues, and that a total cost of repairs is uncertain, she reiterated that there are few if any public funding programs available for dam owners.

While Sen. Reed’s proposed legislation may only represent a drop in the bucket in terms of what’s needed for these much needed infrastructure repair and maintenance costs, it is a step in the right direction. With so much of this year’s election cycle focusing on infrastructure repair, it is our hope that more attention is given to these silent components before another failure occurs.

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