173 Dam Failures Nationally Between 2005 And 2013; Average Age Of 90,000+ Dams In US - 56
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There are more than 90,000 dams in the U.S., according to the National Inventory of Dams, which is kept by the Army Corps of Engineers. Approximately 15,500 of them are classified as high hazard, meaning in the case of failure, at least one life could be lost.
According to the Association of Dam Safety Officials, the average age of dams in the U.S. is 56 years old. By 2025, seven out of 10 dams will be 50 or older. It would take approximately $22 billion to rehabilitate the most critical dams, according to the Association.
While the Army Corps keeps track of the amount of high, significant and low-hazard dams in the country, the individual hazard potential for each dam is not available for the public, Kathryn Van Marter, a spokeswoman with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told EHN in an email.
But of the 15,498 high hazard dams in the country, 4,861 do not have emergency action plans or an emergency action plan is not required. Take Rhode Island: 79 of its 96 high hazard dams do not have emergency action plans. "With the changing climate and the more intense rainstorms that we're getting, a lot of these dams were never designed to handle the kind of water we're going to be getting in the years to come," David Chopy, chief of the Office of Compliance and Inspection for Rhode Island, told EHN.
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https://www.ehn.org/us-dams-are-in-disrepair-2608360261.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1