Audit finds problems with Texas' dam safety program

HOUSTON — The state's system for keeping dams in Texas inspected and maintained is unable to keep up with the 7,600-dam inventory, a state audit said.

A 60-page report by the State Auditor's Office identified weaknesses in nearly all key areas of the dam safety program, including inspections, enforcement, information management and emergency response procedures.

The audit did say the safety program run by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, has gotten better over the last four years. It cited the state's high number of dams as a major contributing factor for shortcomings in the program.

TCEQ spokesman Terry L. Clawson said that despite the report, "We know of no dams in the state of Texas that are in imminent danger of failure."

But the commission generally agrees with the audit's findings and is working to make the recommended fixes — as long as the Legislature approves more employees and money to fix the safety program as the state auditor proposes, he said.

The audit said the commission should:

_ Ensure timely inspections of high and significant hazard dams.

_ Follow up on problems identified in inspection reports to ensure that dam owners have fixed them. Sixty percent of the state's dams are privately owned. While the commission regulates dams, owners are ultimately responsible for their safety.

_ Estimate the cost to rehabilitate the state's structurally deficient and hydraulically inadequate dams. In 2003, the Association of State Dam Safety Officials put the cost to rehabilitate the non-federally owned, high-hazard dams in Texas at more than $711 million.

The audit also listed a number of interim steps the commission should take to improve the safety program. Those include:

_ Developing criteria to ensure that high-risk dams are identified and prioritized for inspections.

_ Completing a revision of administrative rules to improve the safety program.

"We acknowledge that with additional resources and statutory authority, there are considerably more improvements to be made before the program can be considered a model dam safety program," Clawson said.

According to the audit, Texas ranks 28th among 47 states in terms of state funding for dam safety, even though Texas has more state regulated dams than any other state.

In fiscal year 2007, the commission's safety program got $350,000 from the state, and $240,601 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The program has seven inspectors and contracts with two outside groups to look at dams.

There have been 98 dam failures in Texas since 1970.

Nearly all Texas counties have at least one dam. Most of the counties that have 100 or more dams are located in central and north Texas.

Most of the state's dams, 66 percent, were built during the 1960s or before, and most of them, 5,234, are classified as small.

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