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Infrastructure

Contact: Peter Soeth, (303) 445-3615

Safety of Dams

The Dam Safety Program continues to be one of Reclamation’s highest priorities. The program helps ensure the safety and reliability of Reclamation dams to protect the downstream public. Approximately 50 percent of Reclamation’s dams were built between 1900 and 1950, and approximately 90 percent of the dams were built before currently used, state-of-the-art design and construction practices. Reclamation evaluates dams and monitors performance to ensure that risks do not exceed current Reclamation public protection guidelines. Potential failure modes include seismic risk based on the potential for earthquakes, overtopping due to improved data on hydrologic events, and aging dams, which lack state-of-the-art structural reliability features. These risks place a great reliance on monitoring, examinations, and re-analyses as ongoing risk management activities to assure safe dam performance. A strong Dam Safety Program must be maintained to assure acceptable performance within Reclamation’s inventory of dams and related facilities. Reclamation will undertake corrective actions expeditiously when unreasonable public risk is identified. The Program requires dams to be examined by specialists every three years, with additional internal reviews performed annually. The FY 2014 budget request includes $88.1 million for the Dam Safety Program. Major efforts continue to focus on modifications at Folsom Dam.

Initiation of Safety of Dams Corrective Actions

Of the budget request of $88.1 million, $66.5 million includes modifications at these locations:

These projects are planned to continue in FY 2014:

Projects currently planned to begin in FY 2014:

In addition, pre-construction activities will be underway at other:

Safety Evaluation of Existing Dams

The FY 2014 budget requests $20.3 million to complete safety evaluations of existing dams, including performance monitoring, examinations, analyses, field data investigations, technical studies, and development activities.

Department of the Interior Dam Safety Program

As the lead agency for the Department of the Interior’s Dam Safety Program, the President’s FY 2014 budget request includes $1.3 million to provide guidance to other Interior bureaus for their Dam Safety Programs.

Replacement, Additions, and Extraordinary Maintenance

The proposed budget also includes $56.8 million in appropriations for specific projects for Replacement, Additions, and Extraordinary Maintenance (RAX) activities across Reclamation. This request is central to mission objectives of operating and maintaining projects to ensure delivery of water and power benefits. Reclamation’s RAX request is part of its overall Asset Management Strategy that relies on condition assessments, condition/performance metrics, technological research and deployment, and strategic collaboration to continue to improve the management of its assets and deal with its aging infrastructure challenges. This table represents only the FY 2014 request for discretionary appropriations. Additional RAX items are directly funded by revenues, customers, or other Federal agencies (e.g., Bonneville Power Administration).

Region FY 2012
Enacted		 FY 2013
Full Year CR
(P.L. 112-175		 FY 2014
President's Budget
Pacific Northwest $14,630 $9,856 $9,700
Mid-Pacific 19,847 20,471 18,999
Lower Colorado 25,521 22,652 21,346
Upper Colorado 0 1,012 0
Great Plains 8,392 3,904 6,797
  $68,390 $57,895 $56,842

Last Updated: April 18, 2013