Dams - The Missed Risk in Plain Sight

摘要

DeKalb County Department of Watershed Management (DWM) manages and maintains the water and wastewater assets of the County. During risk evaluations, emergency operations planning, and continuity of operations planning, DWM looked at potential impacts and risk related to people, pumps, pipes, electricity, flooding, etc. primarily during severe weather events. As a conscientious utility, DWM built reservoirs to ensure short term supply of water during adverse conditions that meant DWM built dams in the middle of a major metropolitan area with the inherent, but little understood, risks. During previous planning activities, DWM missed the greatest single threat to DWM, and our neighbors, Infrastructure - Dams. An Emergency Action Plan, or EAP, is a formal document that identifies potential emergency conditions at a dam and outlines procedures to follow to minimize damage and potential loss of life. The national average for dams with completed EAPs is 79%~i with some States addressing the issue through new regulations requiring owners of high hazard dams to develop and submit plans. When DWM developed the required EAPs, the extent of predicted damage from a dam failure was identified as catastrophic with a high probability of a large loss of life. The lack of awareness and planning became one of the highest risks to continuity of operation, not only from the three (3) DWM owned dams, but the additional fourteen (14) high hazard dams in the County, nine (9) of which are privately owned. Many of these dams are not actively maintained or inspected by the owners. This presentation strives to outline a new understanding of risk, often overlooked, by a utility. It will provide an overview of the issues surrounding dam ownership and detail how to evaluate the risks, successfully incorporate the risks into emergency planning, and then minimize the risks through operations and training.