DEM ANNOUNCES THAT NEW DAM SAFETY REGULATIONS WILL TAKE EFFECT ON THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20

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Rules and Regulations for Dam Safety

News Release
RI Department of Environmental Management
235 Promenade Street, Providence, RI 02908
(401) 222-2771 TDD/(401) 222-4462

For Release:	December 12, 2007
Contact:	Gail Mastrati 222-4700 ext. 2402 Stephanie Powell 222-4700 ext. 4418

DEM ANNOUNCES THAT NEW DAM SAFETY REGULATIONS WILL TAKE EFFECT ON THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20
Efforts are Focused on Dams that Pose a Threat to Public Safety or Property

PROVIDENCE - The Department of Environmental Management announces that new dam safety regulations affecting the more than 670 dams in Rhode Island take effect on Thursday, December 20.

Technical publications indicate that about 60 percent of dam failures have been caused by lack of maintenance. Many of Rhode Island's 210 high and significant hazard dams, owned both publicly and privately, have not been properly maintained through the years, increasing the likelihood of failure.

Until now, DEM has administered its responsibilities under statute, primarily by conducting inspections and issuing reports. However, with no regulations associated with the statute, it has been difficult to compel dam owners to follow proper procedures regarding maintenance and repair.

The new regulations protect public safety, property, and natural resources, by focusing efforts on the dams that pose a threat to public safety or property. They require that dams be inspected frequently and thoroughly enough for their conditions to be known, and require dam owners to take necessary action to return an unsafe dam to a safe condition.

In particular, the new dam safety regulations:

Define important terms including dam, hazard classifications, maintenance, repair and unsafe dam;
Assign a hazard classification (high, significant, or low) to each dam in the state inventory;
Require owners to register their dams and notify DEM when ownership is transferred;
Set a schedule for visual inspections of high and significant hazard dams;
Streamline the permitting process for repair of high and significant hazard dams;
Provide a procedure for dam owners to take emergency actions for high and significant hazard dams; and
Maintain the owner's responsibility for paying the repair cost to bring an unsafe dam to a safe condition.

Under the new regulations, visual inspections of high and significant hazard dams will be required every two and five years, respectively, either by DEM or an engineer retained by the dam owners. Since DEM has just one dam inspector, it is likely that the department will require some dam owners to retain an engineer to perform the inspections, at an estimated cost of $2,500 to $3,000 per inspection. Repairs of such dams will be regulated under the dam safety regulations, rather than under the freshwater wetlands regulations as previously required, eliminating the permit application fee, and likely reducing the cost of professional evaluations and documentation required to support the application.

The dam safety regulations, when first proposed, were presented and discussed at a public workshop in 2006, and a public hearing was held in August of 2007. They are available on DEM's website, www.dem.ri.gov, by clicking on "Regulations", then "Compliance and Inspection", then "Rules and Regulations for Dam Safety".

Those with further questions about the regulations may call DEM's David Chopy at 222-1360 ext. 7257 or Paul Guglielmino at 222-1360 ext. 7122.

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