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State engineers warn aging dams and downstream development raise public-safety risk and repair costs
Summary
Kansas dam-safety staff told the task force that many regulatory dams are aging, inspection costs fall to owners, and development downstream has increased hazard classifications — raising inspection and rehabilitation costs that many owners cannot meet.
Earl Lewis, chief engineer for dams and water structures, told the Water Program Task Force that Kansas dam safety is primarily a public-safety program focused on reducing risk to life and property from dam incidents during flood events.
Lewis said there are nearly 6,500 dams on the National Inventory of Dams and that roughly 2,600 are regulated under Kansas statute; about 500 are classified significant or high hazard. He explained the program’s inspection cadence — high-hazard dams every…
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