Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - 18

partial accounting of levees, plus evaluations of their condition.
As of October 2016, USACE listed 90,580 dams, with an
average age of 56 years old, though around 4,400 are more than
100 years old. Each dam is classified in one of three categories
based on its hazard potential, or anticipated consequences in the
case of failure, mainly fatalities and economic losses. More than
15,000 dams are deemed high-hazard potential, up from 10,213
in 2005. Another 11,882 are classified as significant-hazard and
60,705 as low-hazard, with 2,495 undetermined.
Just 16,179 dams are designed exclusively for flood control
while the vast majority hold back and contain water for recreation,
hydropower, navigation, drinking water, irrigation and other beneficial purposes. USACE may be the most visible entity aligned
with dams, yet it owns and operates only 715. Other federal agencies own an additional 2,666 dams, state and local governments
and public utilities own 28,599, and 58,148 are privately owned.
USACE and 15 other federal agencies regulate about 10 percent
of dams; states regulate the remaining 90 percent.
The far-flung ownership and regulatory authority of dams
make their safe operation a multilayered task. "Part of the challenge is you have responsibilities laid out across many federal
agencies and states, without department-level oversight of it all,"
says Eric Halpin, who as USACE's deputy dam and levee safety
officer oversees more than 3,000 infrastructure systems.
The labyrinth of levees found in every state-usually earthen
embankments or concrete floodwalls all designated for flood
18

ENGINEERING INC.

JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2018

KELLY M. GROW / GETTY IMAGES

FLORENCE LOW / GETTY IMAGES

In February 2017, the
emergency spillway in
the Oroville Dam failed,
causing the evacuation
of almost 200,000
people from Oroville,
California. Inset:
Once the stormwater
overflow halted, a
45-foot-deep,
300-foot-wide and
500-foot-long crater
in the spillway was
revealed.

risk management-demand a different type of herculean effort.
Nationwide there are an estimated 100,000 miles of levees,
yet only around 30,000 miles are documented, according to
USACE's National Levee Database. The Army Corps owns and
operates a small percentage but has regulatory authority over
about 14,000 miles of levees across nearly 2,000 systems. State,
local and private entities manage the rest. Unlike the hazard
potential assigned to dams, the condition of the nation's levees is
largely unknown.
The Association of State Dam Safety Officials (ASDSO)
estimates that it will cost more than $64 billion to rehabilitate
nonfederal and federal dams-and nearly $22 billion to bring
just the high-hazard ones up to current standards. Yet only $5.6
billion in funding has been provided. Repairing levees will cost
another $80 billion over 10 years, though only $10 billion is in
the pipeline.



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Engineering Inc - January/February 2018

Engineering Inc - January/February 2018
Contents
From Acec to You
Market Watch
2018 Legislative Outlook: Infrastructure Up Next
Legislative Action
Flood Protection Analysis
Innovative Restorations
What Happens After the Merge?
A Buyer’s Market With a Hint of Change
Help Desk to Board Room
A Green Machine
Mergers and Acquisitions
Members in the News
Business Insights
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - Intro
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - Engineering Inc - January/February 2018
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - Cover2
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - Contents
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - 2
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - 3
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - From Acec to You
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - 5
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - Market Watch
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - 7
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - 2018 Legislative Outlook: Infrastructure Up Next
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - 9
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - 10
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - 11
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - 12
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - 13
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - Legislative Action
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - 15
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - Flood Protection Analysis
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - 17
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - 18
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - 19
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - 20
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - Innovative Restorations
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - 22
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - 23
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - 24
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - 25
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - What Happens After the Merge?
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - 27
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - 28
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - 29
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - 30
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - A Buyer’s Market With a Hint of Change
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - 32
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - 33
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - 34
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - 35
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - 36
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - 37
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - Help Desk to Board Room
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - 39
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - 40
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - 41
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - A Green Machine
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - 43
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - 44
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - 45
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - 46
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - 47
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - Mergers and Acquisitions
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - 49
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - Members in the News
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - 51
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - Business Insights
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - Cover3
Engineering Inc - January/February 2018 - Cover4
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