• Local Produce
  • Buy Local
  • Local Seafood
  • Local Food
  • Local Music
  • Local Art
  • Local Churches

CAPE CHARLES MIRROR

Reflections on Cape Charles and the Eastern Shore

  • Local Services
  • Local Rentals
  • Local Employment
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Classifieds
  • Pets
  • Contact Us
  • Rant and Rave
  • Asses&Villains

Over $60 Billion Needed to Repair Failing Dams

March 25, 2018 by Wayne Creed Leave a Comment

Nearly 2,000 state-regulated high-hazard dams in the United States were listed as being in need of repair in 2015, according to the Association of State Dam Safety Officials. A dam is considered “high hazard” based on the potential for the loss of life as a result of failure.

By 2020, 70 percent of the dams in the United States will be more than 50 years old, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers.

The United States Army Corps of Engineers keeps an inventory of 90,000 dams across the country, and more than 8,000 are classified as major dams by height or storage capacity, according to guidelines established by the United States Geological Survey.

Last week, State officials ordered the evacuation of more than 180,000 people downstream of the Oroville Dam in California, the state’s highest, on Sunday night amid concerns that a largely earthen emergency spillway could collapse and cause catastrophic floods on the Feather River. But that spillway was in use only because damage to the dam’s main spillway, a concrete chute, had been discovered earlier in the week. Operators noticed turbulence in the water rushing down the spillway’s chute at a rate of 50,000 cubic feet — about 375,000 gallons — per second. They reduced the flow to investigate, and discovered that a large portion of the concrete had been washed away.

In 2016, the Association of State Dam Safety Officials estimated that it would cost $60 billion to rehabilitate all the dams that needed to be brought up to safe condition, with nearly $20 billion of that sum going toward repair of dams with a high potential for hazard.

In 2015, Representative Sean Patrick Maloney, Democrat of New York, introduced the Dam Rehabilitation and Repair Act to provide grant assistance to rehabilitate publicly owned dams that fail to meet minimum safety standards.

Public and Private Dams (Map courtesy USACE)

Filed Under: Bottom, News

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Search

Subscribe to the Mirror

Enter your email address to receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 367 other subscribers

Join the Conversation!

Send letters, opinion, goings on or photos to capecharlesmirror@gmail.com

Mirrors

Recent Comments

  • Paul R. Plante on Asses&Villains: The Covid Whitewash Begins
  • Paul R. Plante on Op-Ed: Compare George Orwell’s 1984 to Society Today
  • Doug Luther on Cape Charles Main Street Launches Cape Charles Gift Card Program
  • Stuart Bell on US is giving away and selling Lighthouses at auction
  • Patty on A Cape Charles Encounter
  • Paul R. Plante on Asses&Villains: The Covid Whitewash Begins
  • Paul R. Plante on Asses&Villains: The Covid Whitewash Begins
  • Doug Luther on A Cape Charles Encounter
  • Mary Illinski on US is giving away and selling Lighthouses at auction
  • VA MiMi on Governor Glenn Youngkin to release $30 million in Learning Recovery Grants
  • Eddi on Chesapeake Conservancy Salutes Senator Tom Carper on His Announcement of Retirement from the United States Senate
  • Thomy on A Cape Charles Encounter
  • Paul R. Plante on Congress Stock Tracker
  • Paul R. Plante on Asses&Villains: The Covid Whitewash Begins
  • BRAND on Town Manager Responds to Strawberry Street Concert Kerfuffle
  • Herb Thom on A Cape Charles Encounter
  • Scott on A Cape Charles Encounter
  • Carla Jasper on A Cape Charles Encounter
  • Carla Jasper on Sea Turtles Finally Get Protection
  • Carla Jasper on Asses&Villains: The Covid Whitewash Begins

Trending Now

  • A Cape Charles Encounter
  • Cape Charles Main Street Launches Cape Charles Gift Card Program
  • Op-Ed: Compare George Orwell's 1984 to Society Today
  • Town Manager Responds to Strawberry Street Concert Kerfuffle
  • Philosophy Seminar: The Slavs, the Balkans, and World War I
  • Virginia's Recreational Fishing Regulations For Marine Waters
  • US is giving away and selling Lighthouses at auction
  • List Of Clinton Associates Who Allegedly Died Mysteriously Or Committed Suicide Before Testimony
  • Rant and Rave
  • Cheriton Family Fun Day June 3rd

Copyright © 2023 · News Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

 

Loading Comments...