Summary of Existing Guidelines for Hydrologic Safety of Dams

The overriding purpose of this report is to document the available data and to present the state of the practice for evaluating the hydrologic safety of dams, including inventorying current practices used by state and federal agencies. This work included a review of hydrologic guidelines currently used in each state and federal agency that regulates dams, and was guided by an independent steering committee and reviewed by the Research Work Group. A subsequent publication will include new federal guidelines for the evaluation of the hydrologic safety of dams that could be applied nationwide. Contents: Executive Summary; Introduction; United States Dam Inventory Data; Evolution of Design Flood Selection for Spillways; Origins of Dam Safety Design Guidelines; Relevant International Guidelines; Prior State and Federal Surveys Related to Design Flood Selection; Hydrologic Safety of Dams Survey and Database; Summary of Current Federal Hydrologic Design Guidelines; Summary of Current State Hydrologic Design Guidelines; Receptiveness of States to Changing Guidelines; The Current State of the Practice. Appendices: A – Glossary and Acronyms; B – Bibliography; C – Hydrologic Safety of Dams Surveys; D – Federal Guidelines; E – State Guidelines; F – ASDSO Summaries.