Oregon lawmakers push for increased dam safety
Oregon’s “high hazard potential” dams would get stepped up inspections and would be required to develop emergency action plans under a bill introduced Monday in the Oregon House.
House Bill 3427, sponsored by Silverton Rep. Rick Lewis, would require emergency exercises to be conducted at high-hazard dams at regular intervals. And it would require the Oregon Water Resources Department to conduct periodic examinations of those dams.
Under current law, high-hazard dams are encouraged to have an emergency action plan, Lewis said. House Bill 3427 would require one.
“Having an emergency action plan and consistency in safety inspections is crucial to emergency preparedness for dams that are high hazard,” Lewis said in a statement. “Oregonians who live below or within proximity of one of the numerous high-hazard dams in our state should have confidence in their level of safety.”
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers maintains the public National Inventory of Dams (NID) database.
It classifies some dams as “high hazard potential,” meaning dam failure could result in the loss of at least one human life, and likely would result in property or environmental destruction. Other dams are classified as “significant hazard potential,” “low hazard potential,” or “undetermined.”
In February, following the crisis at Oroville Dam in California, the Statesman Journal reported that of the 869 Oregon dams in the NID database, 150 are rated “high hazard potential.”
Twenty-four of those high-hazard dams are operating without emergency action plans, documents that lay out everything from inundation maps to notification flowcharts to emergency response duties.
Oregon considers seven high-hazard dams to be in “unsatisfactory” condition, meaning they could be declared unsafe if repairs aren’t made.
In Marion and Polk counties, high hazard dams include Franzen Reservoir, Silver Creek Dam, Croft Reservoir and Mercer Reservoir.
Detroit Lake in Linn County, which supplies Salem’s drinking water, is a high-hazard dam. It does have an emergency action plan.
The House Committee on Veterans and Emergency Preparedness has scheduled a public hearing on the bill at 3 p.m. Thursday in Hearing Room E at the Capitol.
tloew@statesmanjournal.com, 503-399-6779 or follow at Twitter.com/Tracy_Loew
Oregon’s troubled dams
Oregon considers seven Oregon dams to be in unsatisfactory condition:
Big Creek Reservoir #1 (Lower) Dam, in Lincoln County (21 feet high).
Big Creek Reservoir #2 (Upper) Dam in Lincoln County (56 feet high).
Crowley Dam in Malheur County (90 feet high)
Willow Creek 3 in Malheur County (110 feet high)
Ferry Creek Dam in Curry County (65 feet high).
McMullen Dam in Josephine County (33 feet high).
Johnson Creek Dam in Crook County (44 feet high).
7 Oregon dams in 'unsatisfactory' condition