Analyzing the Growing Risk to Dam Infrastructure and Methods for Enhancing Resilience

Recent flooding in Minnesota has underscored critical vulnerabilities in aging dam infrastructure, continuing a pattern of concern over flood impacts in the Midwest and revealing the need for significant upgrades to cope with modern climate conditions. Consequently, the risk to damn infrastructure is increasing, however, utilities can utilize FEMA’s Dam specific resources to help enhance the resilience of this critical infrastructure.

In Minnesota, while the state’s emergency response processes were successfully executed, many dams, built to outdated standards, were simply inadequate for handling increased precipitation from the extreme weather event. In fact, there are 92,000 dams across the U.S. with an average age of 61 years. Moreover, extreme precipitation events earlier this summer also caused the Nashville City Reservoir Dam in Illinois to fail. And during Tropical Storm Debby several dams failed or were close to failing due to torrential rainfall.

To address the issues demonstrated in Minnesota and elsewhere, states and utilities are encouraged to start adopting a data-driven approach to managing infrastructure risk. While large improvements have been made in accurately modeling climate change’s effects, emergency planners should also understand the capacity of a piece of infrastructure has to resist these effects. This requires accurate data and real-time monitoring.

FEMA also urges communities to develop emergency action plans that address dam-related contingencies, suggesting they take advantage of the many state-level dam safety offices that have resources to begin this process. Members can also register for FEMA’s virtual training class next week on addressing dam risk in your hazard mitigation plan. Lastly, FEMA operates a Dam Safety program, which provides grants, training, and resources to dam owners and operators. Read more at Water Online or at FEMA.