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<br />Inspections of Existino Dams <br /> <br />The agency reports indicate that dam inspection programs <br />of most Federal agencies responsible for dams generally <br />conform to the intent of the Federal Guidelines. Apparent <br />exceptions to such conformance are as follows: <br /> <br />Soil Conservation Service. The SCS has limited control <br />over some 25,000 dams to which the agency provided <br />assistance in development~ thus, opportunities and <br />capabilities for SCS inspection of these dams are limited. <br />However, with SCS encouragement 11,536 of these dams are <br />known to have been inspected in the last three years and <br />that 1,042 of these inspections were formal safety <br />inspections. <br /> <br />Bureau of Land Management. As noted above, BLM estimates <br />that the agency owns about 1,000 dams that have not been <br />inventoried. Most of these are expected to be classed as <br />low-hazard structures when the inventory is complete. Of <br />those that have been inventoried, BLM reports that most do <br />receive periodic inspections, and 797 inspections were <br />performed in the last two fiscal years (1984 and 1985). <br /> <br />Office of Surface Rining. OSM reports its inspection <br />program follows its own regulations, not the Federal <br />Guidelines. Information provided indicates the program <br />relies heavily on inspections made by employees of the <br />dam owners. <br /> <br />Rine Safety and Health Adainistration. Information <br />provided indicates MSHA regulatory requirements do not <br />encompass all that the Federal Guidelines include, and <br />that the requirements for dams at metal/nonmetal mining <br />sites are less demanding than those for coal mining <br />properties. <br /> <br />Nuclear Regulatory Comaission. The Agency report indi- <br />cates that records of periodic inspections of existing <br />dams have not been developed~ hence, compliance with the <br />Federal Guidelines has not been determined. <br /> <br />A few agencies have furnished rather detailed information <br />on types and timing of scheduled safety inspections of major <br />Federal dams they control. In general, these detailed descrip- <br />tions have not shown that visual inspections of critical <br />elements of dams have been made part of the work routines of <br />operating crews at installations with on-site operators. The <br />Federal Guidelines promote such inspections to provide continu- <br />ing surveillance of important dams. <br /> <br />Chapter 3 - page 21 <br />