A new report from the state auditor says 57 dams in California are in poor or unsatisfactory condition, posing a safety risk to hundreds of thousands of residents.
Out of those 57 dams, 40 have “high or extremely high” hazard classifications as of May, the Oct. 13 report said.
“Failure of just one of these 40 high or extremely high hazard dams could pose harm to as many as hundreds of thousands of people and cause billions of dollars in property damage,” the auditor warned, citing the Department of Water Resources’ (DWR’s) assessment of 1,222 Californian dams.
The most common factors for the poor conditions are old age, the inability to pay for repair costs, and the lack of comprehensive safety standards in effect when the dams were built, the report said….