California auditor gives damning assessment of state’s dams

The state has more than 50 badly degraded dams. Fixing them all would cost some $28 billion. Not fixing them could cost more.LOS ANGELES (CN) — California has 57 dams deemed in poor or unsatisfactory condition, the state auditor’s office announced Tuesday.For security reasons, the office doesn’t identify in its report which dams are in such disrepair but notes most are near high-population centers like Los Angeles, San Diego and the Bay Area.“If the deficiencies of these riskiest dams cause them to fail, they could collectively endanger as many as 1.5 millionpeople and cause more than $265 billion in economic damage,” the office wrote.The concrete of one century-old dam has deteriorated “to such an extent that repairs cannot be completed without further compromising the dam’s integrity,” according to the auditors. The dam is also “seismically unstable, and the deterioratingconcrete has further jeopardized the dam’s stability should an earthquake occur and has made the dam more vulnerable during large storm events.”Several crumbling dams have been deficient for at least nine years. One was deemed to have “potential geologic, structural or performance issues that would jeopardize its ability to withstand flood events” in 2017. Only some repairs have been made.Most of California’s nearly 1,500 dams are owned and managed by a panoply of local agencies and private companies, like Pacific Gas & Electric. According to the state, dam owners must maintain their infrastructure. The office adds, “state law does not require dam owners to conduct any formal planning or to maintain a financial reserve to support large-scale repair projects or respond to emergencies.”While most deficient dams are old and were built before modern safety standards took effect, the office notes many are not being maintained because of a lack of funding.According to the Department of Water Resources, repairing all of the state’s dams over the next five years will cost more than $28 billion. Fixing a single dam can easily exceed $100 million, often too much for a local government to afford.The audit is highly critical of the state’s Department of Water Resources, which gained significant oversight power in 2017 after the Oroville Dam crisis.“Water Resources has not fully exercised its enforcement authority to ensure dam owners repair their dams in a timely manner,” the office says in the report.State audits typically include a section where agencies can respond to the audit’s criticisms. In his response, Tom Gleason, director of the Department of Water Resources, accused the auditors of “a fundamental lack of understanding of thecomplexities of flood management in California’s Central Valley and dam safety statewide, leading to recommendations that will not effectively advance statewide public safety.”Gleason noted the Association of State Dam Safety Officials conducted its own analysis of California’s dam safety program and found it “the leading state dam safety program in the nation.” He added that some dams marked as “deficient” weren’t necessarily degraded; many, he said, simply hadn’t kept up with new, heightened safety standards.The state’s audit includes a list of recommendations aimed at the Department of Water Resources and the state Legislature.“To ensure that the safety of the public is addressed before a dam’s condition results in an emergency, the Legislature should amend state law to allow Water Resources to order the condemnation and decommissioning of a dam when Water Resources’other means of enforcement are unsuccessful,” the office wrote.Other recommendations include allowing the Department of Water Resources to charge dam owners fees to support its oversight work and requiring dam owners to maintain an emergency fund for maintenance and repairs.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads