U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Dam Safety Program Transformation

By Charles Dervarics - April 21, 2013

Aerial view of Dworshak Dam on the North Fork of the Clearwater River in northern Idaho as seen in December 2007. In May 2012, USACE reclassified Dworshak Dam and Reservoir, near Orofino, Idaho, as a Dam Safety Action Classification III (DSAC III) after a rigorous study and review by USACE dam safety experts. Dworshak Dam was initially classified in October 2007 as DSAC II “Urgent” because of engineering unknowns related to structural stability and foundation seepage of concrete gravity sections. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo

Concentrating Dam Safety Expertise

USACE’s decision to concentrate its dam safety expertise also contributes to this success. Instead of working at 41 different district locations, dam safety experts are now concentrated at one of seven dam safety production centers. “This allows us to sharpen our expertise, build the bench of engineering and construction competencies, and more efficiently deliver our services,” Halpin said.

Tommy Haskins, USACE Nashville District technical manager for the Wolf Creek Dam Foundation Remediation Project in Jamestown, Ky., briefs the 2011 post-flood Performance Assessment Team from Headquarters during a tour of the project July 25, 2012. The team visited the dam as it seeks to identify potential revisions to water-control manuals and recommend operational changes, both within and outside of existing authorities and policies. USACE photo by Chris Hesse

Located strategically nationwide, the centers focus on regional needs. Districts within USACE competed for the designation, with the best-qualified sites winning it, according to Halpin. There also is a mandatory center of expertise, or MCX, based in the Huntington District, in West Virginia, which provides technical oversight and overall management of this new framework. In addition to housing the MCX, the Huntington District also is home to the dam safety production center serving the Great Lakes and Ohio River Division.

“These are robust centers that can efficiently deliver services,” Halpin said, and several are already fully staffed. “The Dam Safety Community of Practice is among the USACE leaders in modernizing its workforce for the next 20 years,” he added.

Other locations for dam safety production centers, listed by USACE division, are:

Southwestern Division, based at the Tulsa (Okla.) and Little Rock (Ark.) districts offices;
North Atlantic Division, based at the New England District (Mass.) and Baltimore (Md.) District offices;
South Atlantic Division, based primarily at the Mobile (Ala.) District office;
Mississippi Valley Division, based at the Vicksburg (Miss.)District office;
South Pacific Division, based at the Sacramento (Calif.) District office; and
Northwestern Division, Pacific Ocean Division, and Transatlantic Division, based at the Omaha (Neb.) District office.

Since USACE-operated and -maintained dams provide significant benefits through flood management, navigation, hydropower, water supplies, recreation, and fish and wildlife conservation, maintaining their viability is essential for USACE staff. “We really have a dedicated group of people who are very committed to dam safety,” said Barb Schuelke, who recently joined USACE as dam safety program manager. “Everyone’s committed to this program.”

Multilayer Inspection System

As a monitoring tool, USACE conducts regular inspections of the dams within its portfolio. Main objectives of the inspection system are to ensure the dam will perform as expected, identify any deficiencies for monitoring or repair, collect information to make informed decisions, determine if the dam has received proper maintenance, and assess the dam’s integrity to identify changes over time. USACE’s approach includes annual inspections as well as periodic in-depth inspections once every five years. These in-depth reviews follow an evaluation checklist, a comprehensive review of the safety and structural stability of the dam, and a comparison of the dam’s current status to original criteria when built.

The SPRA, begun in 2005 and finished in 2009, resulted in a Dam Safety Action Classification (DSAC) in one of five action classes, from dams that meet tolerable risks and all essential engineering criteria to those that require urgent action. DSCA characteristics include:

DSAC I, Urgent and Compelling, critically near failure, or extremely high incremental risk.
DSAC II, High Urgency, failure initiation foreseen or very high incremental risk.
DSAC III, Moderate Urgency, moderate to high incremental risk.
DSAC IV, Low Urgency, low incremental risk.
DSAC V, Normal, very low incremental risk.

(Note: Incremental risk is the risk that exists because of the dam’s presence and is used to inform the DSAC assignment decision.)

Halpin also noted that USACE has identified a common vision for dam and levee safety together. There is a “common vision to approach infrastructure from the perspective of people living and working behind it,” he said. This common vision recognizes that life safety is paramount, which signals a need to manage risk comprehensively in a way that also involves state and local agencies and the general public. “We are reinvigorating our strategy,” Halpin said, including “how we manage risk and tell the story of our infrastructure.”

Through this effort, USACE is not only concentrating its expertise but also its best practices capable of replication on a large scale. “It’s the right thing to do. It’s what good government does,” he added.

This article first appeared in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: Building Strong^®, Serving the Nation and the Armed Forces 2012-2013 Edition.