No news is good news. This common phrase can apply to countless scenarios but when it comes to dam safety, no news really is good news. Dam safety is something that most people probably don’t think about daily. The reality is most people probably don’t stop to consider the safety of a dam unless there has been an emergency or other type of incident.

Thankfully, there are a number of individuals who work day-in and day-out to ensure the safety of the more than 700 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-owned and operated dams across the nation. The USACE Dam Safety Program uses a risk-informed approach to managing its dams, with life safety being the number one priority.

One tool that is available to local, state and federal emergency management agencies, as well as to the public, is the National Inventory of Dams. This online database is a one-stop shop for information on more than 90,000 dams across the U.S.

“The National Inventory of Dams is an inventory of all the dam structures in the nation that [USACE] is aware of,” said Allen Chestnut, Kansas City District dam safety program manager. “It’s a really good resource if you have a dam in your community and you’re not sure what it is or who owns it — that information is often times available in the National Inventory of Dams.”

USACE was authorized by Congress to establish and maintain the National Inventory of Dams. Although the database has been around since the 1980s, major updates to the inventory in 2021 have established the database as an invaluable tool in emergency planning for local, state and federal agencies and communities across the nation.

At the Kansas City District, a data management team is responsible for updating the information in the database for the 20 dam structures in the district’s portfolio.

“We have descriptions of the dams in [the database], so things that we would have common language descriptions for include where the dam is [located], how big it is, that type of information,” said Alexandra Ubben, project manager for the Kansas City District Dam and Levee Data Management Team.

According to Ubben, information and descriptions of the dams are in plain language so that anyone can access and use the information. Two major improvements to the database made in 2021 included the inclusion of USACE inundation maps and generalized risk characteristics for each USACE dam.

“In 2021, [USACE] had a policy change that said, ‘we want to be more transparent with inundation maps … we should be sharing these inundation maps with the public,’” said Ubben. “I think it’s been a really useful tool.”

For Chestnut and his team at the Kansas City District, the addition of inundation maps to the National Inventory of Dams is another resource that can be shared when preparing local communities for the worst-case scenario. The Kansas City District’s Dam Safety Program uses the National Inventory of Dams and its inundation maps when they host tabletop exercises with local emergency management agencies.

“[The inundation maps] are going to help local communities … better understand the risk associated with our structures, or at least the potential consequences and inundation zones downstream of our dams,” said Chestnut.

To date, USACE is the only federal agency that has made inundation maps available to the public. By making the maps available, USACE hopes that local communities, and even private citizens, will use the maps to make risk-informed decisions for themselves.

“USACE is trying to be transparent and make as much information available as we can to the public,” said Chestnut. “We are providing information to the public so they can be better informed and make better decisions for their safety and wellbeing.”

For Ubben, she recognizes that most people don’t think about dam safety as they go about their days. But for her and her team, they understand that having information available 365 days a year, in real time, can be a powerful tool.

“Anyone who lives downstream of a dam cares [about dam safety]. Whether they realize it or not,” said Ubben. “I think that education and knowledge on dam safety is a really powerful tool and the [National Inventory of Dams] gives people the knowledge and ability to plan for any worst-case event.”

To view the National Inventory of Dams, visit National Inventory of Dams (army.mil).

For more information about the Kansas City District’s Dam Safety Program, visit Kansas City District > Missions > Civil Works > Dam Safety Program (army.mil).

No news is good news. This common phrase can apply to countless scenarios but when it comes to dam safety, no news really is good news. Dam safety is something that most people probably don’t think about daily. The reality is most people probably don’t stop to consider the safety of a dam unless there has been an emergency or other type of incident.

Thankfully, there are a number of individuals who work day-in and day-out to ensure the safety of the more than 700 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-owned and operated dams across the nation. The USACE Dam Safety Program uses a risk-informed approach to managing its dams, with life safety being the number one priority.

One tool that is available to local, state and federal emergency management agencies, as well as to the public, is the National Inventory of Dams. This online database is a one-stop shop for information on more than 90,000 dams across the U.S.

“The National Inventory of Dams is an inventory of all the dam structures in the nation that [USACE] is aware of,” said Allen Chestnut, Kansas City District dam safety program manager. “It’s a really good resource if you have a dam in your community and you’re not sure what it is or who owns it — that information is often times available in the National Inventory of Dams.”

USACE was authorized by Congress to establish and maintain the National Inventory of Dams. Although the database has been around since the 1980s, major updates to the inventory in 2021 have established the database as an invaluable tool in emergency planning for local, state and federal agencies and communities across the nation.

At the Kansas City District, a data management team is responsible for updating the information in the database for the 20 dam structures in the district’s portfolio.

“We have descriptions of the dams in [the database], so things that we would have common language descriptions for include where the dam is [located], how big it is, that type of information,” said Alexandra Ubben, project manager for the Kansas City District Dam and Levee Data Management Team.

According to Ubben, information and descriptions of the dams are in plain language so that anyone can access and use the information. Two major improvements to the database made in 2021 included the inclusion of USACE inundation maps and generalized risk characteristics for each USACE dam.

“In 2021, [USACE] had a policy change that said, ‘we want to be more transparent with inundation maps … we should be sharing these inundation maps with the public,’” said Ubben. “I think it’s been a really useful tool.”

For Chestnut and his team at the Kansas City District, the addition of inundation maps to the National Inventory of Dams is another resource that can be shared when preparing local communities for the worst-case scenario. The Kansas City District’s Dam Safety Program uses the National Inventory of Dams and its inundation maps when they host tabletop exercises with local emergency management agencies.

“[The inundation maps] are going to help local communities … better understand the risk associated with our structures, or at least the potential consequences and inundation zones downstream of our dams,” said Chestnut.

To date, USACE is the only federal agency that has made inundation maps available to the public. By making the maps available, USACE hopes that local communities, and even private citizens, will use the maps to make risk-informed decisions for themselves.

“USACE is trying to be transparent and make as much information available as we can to the public,” said Chestnut. “We are providing information to the public so they can be better informed and make better decisions for their safety and wellbeing.”

For Ubben, she recognizes that most people don’t think about dam safety as they go about their days. But for her and her team, they understand that having information available 365 days a year, in real time, can be a powerful tool.

“Anyone who lives downstream of a dam cares [about dam safety]. Whether they realize it or not,” said Ubben. “I think that education and knowledge on dam safety is a really powerful tool and the [National Inventory of Dams] gives people the knowledge and ability to plan for any worst-case event.”

To view the National Inventory of Dams, visit National Inventory of Dams (army.mil).

For more information about the Kansas City District’s Dam Safety Program, visit Kansas City District > Missions > Civil Works > Dam Safety Program (army.mil).