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In recent years, the failure rate has remained significant while consequential costs have escalated. Since 1965, 30 failures or serious incidents that could lead to failure ha'le occurred, mainly from mechanical flaws or overtopping from flash flooding (see llppendix 1). The Lower Latham Dam (Weld County) failure in 1973 and the Lawn r,ake Dam (including the Cascade Dam) in Rocky Mountain National Park in 1982 resulted in Presidential Major Disaster Declarations. The Lawn Lake di~;aster cost tm'e'e lives and at least 30 million dollars in damages. *3 Of seven recent P:residE~ntia.l di saster declarations in Colorado, two were dam failure floods; in other words, almost one-third of all flood-oriented declarations in recent years have been dam related (see Appendix 2). Status of Dams in Colorado To review thE~ current status of dams, to include their numbers and condition, the following facts are pertinent: About 27,000 dams exist in the state, many of these an, small and pose minor hazards: the federal 90vernlnent owns 120 dams in Colorado, the state owns 89, other governments own 302 and the rest are privately owned. Many of the 27,000 dams in the s1cate axe old and in varied structural condition; some exist near active faults or in areas where mild seismic events occur. To date, a comparison of active Eau11: loca- tions and dam sites has not bee" made with enough detail to clearly define seismic risks. Strong notion devices have not been used to assess internal stresses. Thes" are projects which the legislature may eventually fund, however sone indication of ris}~ can be deter- mined if dam locations are c')mpared with t.he seismic activity map and the Mercalli Scale. * The earliest recorded dam failure flood in the Estes Park region occurred on May 25, 1951, when Lilly Lake dam f"iled sending flood waters down Fish Creek and into Lake Estes. -5-