20 April 2003. One of the Eyeball series.
Source of photos and maps: Mapquest.com

http://crunch.tec.army.mil/nid/webpages/nid.cfm

National Inventory of Dams Data Status

Introduction

With the National Dam Inspection Act (P.L. 92-367) of 1972, Congress authorized the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to inventory dams located in the United States. The Water Resources Development Act of 1986 (P.L 99-662) authorized USACE to maintain and periodically publish an updated National Inventory of Dams (NID). The Water Resources Development Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-303), Section 215, re-authorized periodic update of the NID by USACE, and continued a funding mechanism.

The current NID is the result of this evolutionary process. The USACE continues to work closely with the Association of State Dam Safety Officials (ASDSO), FEMA, and other state and federal agencies to update and publish the NID. The success of the NID maintenance and publication program can be attributed to the cooperative participation of the 50 states and Puerto Rico (as facilitated by ASDSO), and 17 federal agencies, who provide information on approximately 77,000 dams currently in the NID.

The Interagency Committee on Dam Safety (ICODS) created a subcommitee to advise USACE on the update o f the NID. The NID Subcommittee provides guidance and recommendations concerning the data elements, format, and publication media for the NID. Its membership consists of representatives of non-federal and federal agencies who participate in the NID.

A web-enabled version of the 1998-1999 NID update was posted to the Internet in January 1999. For this update, nineteen new fields of information were added to the NID. This new information is necessary to assess dam characteristics, and more effectively and appropriately allocate federal resources for dam safety programs. The addition of these fields in the NID required eight new fields in the states' National Inventory of Dams Data (NATDAM) input file for incorporation into the NID (federal agencies must submit an additional eleven fields in their databases). Participants are continuing to work to improve completeness and accuracy for all data fields in the NID. Updated data received by USACE is posted quarterly to the on-line database.

The Corps of Engineers and ASDSO are continuously improving the process of inventory data collection and transmission by the states and federal agencies to take advantage of current PC computers, software and the Internet. Software tools have been recently developed to improve the process of managing, inputting, and transmitting NID data. User training for the states and federal agencies on these software tools is starting in March 2001.

Note that the objectives of the program to update the NID are the same as those stated in the 1989 manual ASDSO National Inventory of Dams Methodology:

Points of Contact:

Technical Assistance:

U.S. Army Topographic Engineering Center
CEERD-TR-A, ATTN: National Inventory of Dams
7701 Telegraph Rd.
Alexandria, VA 22315
rd1@tec.army.mil

General Dam Information:

Association of State Dam Safety Officials
450 Old Vine Street, 2nd Floor
Lexington, KY 40507
info@damsafety.org

National Inventory of Dams Inclusion Criteria

A dam is included in the National Inventory of Dams if:

1) It is a High or Significant hazard potential class dam or,

2) It is a Low Hazard potential class dam that exceeds 25 feet in height AND 15 acre-feet storage or,

3) It is a Low Hazard potential class dam that exceeds 50 acre-feet storage AND 6 feet height.

For defintions of hazard, please use data dictionary:

Downstream Hazard Potential

Code indicating the potential hazard to the downstream area resulting from failure or misoperation of the dam or facilities:

L for Low;
S for Significant;
H for High.

Definitions, as accepted by the Interagency Committee on Dam Safety, are as follows:

1. LOW HAZARD POTENTIAL -- Dams assigned the low hazard potential classification are those where failure or misoperation results in no probable loss of human life and low economic and/or environmental losses. Losses are principally limited to the owner’s property.

2. SIGNIFICANT HAZARD POTENTIAL -- Dams assigned the significant hazard potential classification are those dams where failure or misoperation results in no probable loss of human life but can cause economic loss, environment damage, disruption of lifeline facilities, or impact other concerns. Significant hazard potential classification dams are often located in predominantly rural or agricultural areas but could be located in areas with population and significant infrastructure.

3. HIGH HAZARD POTENTIAL -- Dams assigned the high hazard potential classification are those where failure or misoperation will probably cause loss of human life.

Eyeballing
the
High Hazard
Dams of
San Francisco
Bay


Alpine Lake

Balboa Reservoir (covered)

Lake Chabot

Lafayette Reservoir

Lake Herman

Lake Temescal

Leland Reservoir

Martinez Reservoir

Nicasio Reservoir

Novato Creek Reservoir

Piedmont Reservoir

Soulajuie Reservoir

Stanford Heights Reservoir (covered)

Summit Reservoir

Sunset North Basin (covered0

Sutro Reservoir (covered)

University Mound Basins (covered)