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engineers to obtain additional state-of-the-art knowledge, and funds for research to allow data to be collected and analyzed on embankment properties on dams with structural deficiencies, In order to improve Colorado's dam safety program and to participate in the National Dam Safety Program as requested by the Corps of Engineers, staff of the Dam Safety Branch were uti- lized to perform various activities related to this Federal pro- gram from 1978 to 1981. As a result, safety inspections of some dams, including Lawn Lake, were infrequently conducted or de- ferred for several years. Consequently, the goal during the last few years to inspect all high and moderate hazard dams was not achieved. A guide on how many times a dam should be inspected based on hazard potential was developed by the Dam Safety Branch during the early 1970s, The guide indicated high hazard dams should be inspected more than once a year and low hazard dams should be inspected about once in five years, It was not implemented at that time because of a belief darns must be inspected once a year, If Colorado's dam safety program concentrated only on high and moderate hazard darns, the total number of dams which need to be inspected annually is 569, including Federal dams, The pres- ent staff can do this task if there are no other responsibilities added to their schedule, The present seven field engineers would be assigned 81 dams each for annual safety evaluations. Assuming the remaining 1,680 low hazard dams were inspected once every five years, another 48 dams would be added to each inspector's annual schedule for a total of 129, Secretarial, clerical, and technical support would still need to be increased, However, construction inspections could not be performed since the maximum number of inspections per engineer per year is approximately 130 if quality inspections are to be conducted, By way of comparison, the State of California dam safety program uses a staff of 60 people to administer about 1,300 dams. The majority of these are engineers and geologists. California has had very few dam failures in the past 20 years, Its programs concentrate on dams greater than 25 feet in height and 50 acre- feet in capacity, which is the standard adopted by the NDSP, If Colorado adopted the same standard, the number of dams requiring safety evaluations could be reduced. In most instances, low hazard dams would be eliminated by this change in the standard, If all 2,249 dams in Colorado are inspected once each year with the present staff, each field engineer would have about 320 dams to inspect annually, which is impossible, The State Engineer's Office has indicated it would take a total of twenty-two field engineers to make 2,249 safety inspections per year, Assuming 22 field engineers were available to make an equal number of safety inspect ions, each would be ass igned about 102 dams, This would be a reasonable number of dams to inspect every year, along with the scheduling and follow-up work as well 52