Recent Advancements in California’s Dam Safety Program

The California Dam Safety Program continually strives to meet and exceed industry best practices for public safety under the authority of the Division of Safety of Dams (DSOD). Major efforts to bolster dam safety in California have included the comprehensive review of large spillways, new statutory requirements for robust emergency response planning for dams and their critical appurtenant structures, codifying the frequency of dam inspections and operation of critical outlet and spillway control features, and implementation of formal risk-informed decision making. To effectively carry out the supervision of dam safety, DSOD’s enforcement authority was bolstered and its resources were expanded. DSOD promulgated regulations to provide dam owners with guidelines on the recent changes in the laws, while also increasing its data sharing efforts with the public. This paper provides an overview of DSOD’s actions to rapidly implement these major initiatives given short deadlines and competing priorities.