Forcing the owners of dams to fix potentially life-threatening problems is not the same as an unfunded mandate. That clever catch-phrase of modern government, invoked this week by some lawmakers, has no application to problems such as these.
But that doesn't mean Utah legislators should rush headlong into requiring costly repairs without considering the consequences. As the state's Water Development Commission noted this week, some private dams could close if owners were forced to bear the entire cost of repairs.Careful, systematic planning is called for. The worst option of all, however, would be inaction.
A failed dam can cause tremendous damage. History is replete with examples. In Utah, the most recent was the 1988 collapse of the Quail Creek Dam in southern Utah, which caused $12 million in damage and millions more in repairs. But there have been others. In 1983, heavy spring runoff caused the Delta-Melville-Abraham-Deseret Dam to buckle. That resulted in the loss of one life, in addition to millions of dollars in property damage.
A recent report by the Dam Safety Section of the Department of Natural Resources identified literally hundreds of Utah dams that are in need of repairs totalling a combined $62 million. Some are near populated areas. The Mountain Dell Dam, for instance, is six miles upstream from Salt Lake City. It has a spillway that measures only 12 feet across, too small to handle a large runoff during extreme weather.
Lawmakers, then, have a difficult task ahead of them. They must find a way to strongly encourage the owners whose dams need repairs, and they must set examples by fixing the many dams under state ownership. Mountain Dell, for example, was recognized as early as 1981 as being in need of upgrades.
The task requires lawmakers to carefully study each of the improvements suggested in the report and to develop a systematic and prioritized approach to fixing them. Certainly, dams near population centers should be attended to first.
Some have referred to the dam report as a Pandora's box. The comparison is apt. Public and private owners likely would incur heavy legal liabilities should problems occur in dams that were identified in the report but not repaired.
Requiring repairs hardly could be considered an example of intrusive government. While $62 million may be a lot of money, it pales in comparison with the damage a failure could cause.