Fitting Dam Safety Regulation Amendments into Place

Abstract Only - Successful dam safety programs must be based on established regulations. Regulations may need to be modified based on program experience. The changes should occur form a dynamic process of developing strategies for converting dam safety challenges to opportunities for dam safety enhancements. The recommendation of policies that promote dam safety efficiently and effectively should be promulgated as regulations that we uphold the unchanging principle of maximization of public safety, but we need, as regulators and dam safety practitioners, to adjust ourselves into adapting to the changes in a timely manner to sustain this principle.

After practicing under the Virginia Dam Safety Regulations for more than a decade, lessons form the school of experience indicate that it is time to refine these regulations to a point where they are more practical and reasonable. A corollary benefit to be derived from modification of the Regulations is to reduce the cost of program execution and compliance measure to help make dam safety administration even more successful. Through the processes of careful planning and proper execution of an upgraded set of more effective regulations, the Virginia agency intends to maximize the benefits of dam safety administration within the constraints of limited resources of staff and budget.

Recommendations for modification of the Virginia Dam Safety Act, which can resolve a variety of common problems which our regulators have encountered, include (1) the need to strengthen enforcement powers with respect to non-compliant owners, (2) the need to strengthen certain compliance requirements, (3) the need to address funding mechanisms involving dam safety issues, and (4) the need to change the attendant regulations.

As we look forward to the start of a new millennium at the end of this century Virginia's Dam Safety program is honing its public policy development to more precisely regulate dams to achieve optimal public safety. By giving typical examples as illustration, it is the intent for this paper to specifically address concerns and issues requiring legislative changes in Virginia which may be beneficial to dam safety agencies in other states in our common goal of safeguarding the lives and property of the general public.