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1 Introduction
Pages 17-34

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From page 17...
... . The total number of fatalities associated with dam failures in the United States is less than the number associated with motor vehicles, bicycles, and commercial air travel, but a single dam failure has the potential to cause many hundreds or thousands of fatalities, to seriously affect services such as electric power, water supply, and irrigation, and to have major sociologic and psychologic effects, particularly when entire towns are involved.
From page 18...
... Because the effects of dam or levee failure on physical and social infrastructures can be broad, a more comprehensive approach to dam and levee safety beyond traditional standards-based and structurally based safety goals is needed. The earthquake-engineering profession has learned through experience that engaging a community in hazard preparedness, risk communication programs, response and recovery planning and training, and formulation of new adaptations can pay large dividends in reducing the short-term and long-term effects of an event (e.g., NRC, 2011b)
From page 19...
... This report communicates concepts of community resilience and describes the roles dam and levee professionals can serve with other community members in increasing community resilience with respect to dam and levee failure. The committee identifies efforts BOX 1.1 Statement of Task An ad hoc committee of the National Research Council will analyze and provide conclusions on how dam and levee safety programs may be broadened to include community- and regional-level preparation, response, mitigation, and recovery from potential infrastructure failure.
From page 20...
... HISTORICAL DAM AND LEVEE PERFORMANCE Dam and levee governance is a key factor in dam and levee safety. Much progress has been made, at least in the governance of dams, since the late 1970s and the establishment of the National Dam Safety Program (see Chapter 3 for discussion of dam and levee infrastructure, management, and governance)
From page 21...
... The figure represents dams of all sizes and types, including small dams, whose failures have little or no consequences.2 The long-term average rate of dam failures is about 10 per year. The increase in failure rates beginning in about 1970 probably correlates with the increase in the number of dams built in the latter half of the 20th century combined with the increased reporting of dam failures after the 1972 Buffalo Creek and 1976 Teton Dam failures.
From page 22...
... Since the middle of the 19th century, over 4,000 fatalities have been associated with dam failures; over half resulted from the South Fork Dam failure in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.3 Levee Failures A comprehensive list of levee failures in the United States is not readily accessible. However, the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta, with about 1,100 miles of levee, has experienced approximately 160 levee failures in the last 110 years (Gaddie et al., 2007)
From page 23...
... . June 29, 1925 Sheffield Dam Dam failure resulted from liquefaction Near Santa Barbara, induced by the Santa Barbara earthquake; California no fatalities were reported (Seed et al., 1970)
From page 24...
... Geologic and hydrologic properties are the driving forces of many dam-safety issues, including the persistent foundation issues of the Wolf Creek Dam on the Cumberland River in Kentucky (see Box 1.2) and increased inflow hydrographs for reservoirs in the Sierra Nevada Mountains due to early snowmelt and runoff (e.g., Cayan et al., 1997)
From page 25...
... Louis. spread losses.5 Such issues affect dam and levee structures for which the ability to forecast performance is often (especially for levees)
From page 26...
... The dam serves multiple purposes in the region: it provides flood control, stores water, is a source of hydro electric power production, allows navigation on the river, and is a major source of recreation in the area.
From page 27...
... Another barrier is that dam and levee safety programs do not generally quantify risk and uncertainty explicitly in their design and operation of geologic, geotechnical, hydrologic, and hydraulic processes that can inform both themselves and associated communities. In light of such barriers, the uniqueness of safety engineering issues related to specific dams and levees, and the uniqueness with which communities manifest resilience, this report focuses on dam and levee safety practices in general terms.
From page 28...
... Because resilience is dynamic, it requires continuing managerial and social change among the individuals, networks, and institutions that make up a community. Hazard Mitigation and Adaptation Resilience is ultimately demonstrated by the ability to anticipate hazard events, survive the disruptions that they cause, mount effective responses, recover from the effects of infrastructure failure, and change behaviors to mitigate and prepare for future events.
From page 29...
... Communities adapt by reducing their vulnerability to emerging or future hazards that could become seriously disruptive if left unaddressed. Dam and levee failures and their consequences have traditionally been dealt with in the natural-hazards literature.
From page 30...
... , stated a major paradigm shift would be necessary to move the nation's dam and levee safety programs toward a culture of resilience.6 In his opinion, such a shift would include new authorizing legislation, changes in management, a reorientation from deterministic to risk-based approaches, and engagement and support from a much larger community, including local government, planning agencies, elected officials, and the public. He advo S
From page 31...
... to enhance community resilience. The next sections summarize the committee's other starting assumptions and method of analysis.
From page 32...
... Hazard mitigation requires close collaboration between dam and levee owners and the communities, both proximate and more broadly, that face risks from infrastructure failure. Effective collaboration extends beyond the provision of data by dam and levee owners on the degree of risk faced by communities and may include, for example, dam and levee owners acting as champions of community hazard mitigation and convening meetings of community members and stakeholders to discuss the serious nature of risk and the mitigation actions that are appropriate.
From page 33...
... Instead, the committee considers tools to assist individual safety programs (those responsible for the safe operation of individual dams and levees) in identifying the communities and stakeholders affected by the consequences of dam- and levee-related technical decisions.
From page 34...
... REPORT ORGANIZATION This report addresses how to incorporate concepts of community resilience into dam and levee safety programs and practice. Much of the report is written for dam and levee safety professionals, but the discussion is general and of use to the broader community interested in becoming more resilient.


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