Director National Performance of Dams Program Stanford University Menlo Park, CA
Abstract Description: On April 23, 1977, 93 days in office, President Carter signed a memorandum addressed to the federal agencies involved in the design, operation and regulation of dams that initiated at the federal level and later on a national scale a move to improve the safety of dams. The President’s directive led to the creation of the National Dam Safety Program, preparation of the Federal Guidelines for Dam Safety, and a focus on a national scale on the safety of dams. This paper examines the origins of the President’s memorandum and its implications for dam safety. The 1970s was a period of considerable social and political unrest; the war in Vietnam was ongoing and ultimately concluded, a President resigned in disgrace, environmental activism gained public attention, and a new political era began. In 1976, a political unknown from Georgia was elected President, a response to these events. He brought a different approach to the nation’s capital – as an engineer he had a technical background and an attention to detail, an awareness of federal dams, a keen interest in the environment, and focused interest in fairness and public safety. In parallel to the social and political climate of the 1970s, the dam industry was experiencing its own unrest. Between 1970 and the election in 1976, a number of dam failures occurred, some with catastrophic consequences. In 1972, the Buffalo Creek failure in West Virginia killed 125 people and a flood and failure of Canyon Lake Dam in Rapid City, South Dakota resulted in 245 fatalities. Most noteworthy was the collapse of the USBR’s Teton Dam in Idaho on June 5, 1976 on first filling. The failure caused 11 fatalities and approximately $900 million in damages. More importantly the failure of a dam designed and owned by the federal government brought considerable public and political attention to the USBR and to the issue of dam safety. The President’s memorandum was remarkable in a number of respects. Foremost, it brought national attention to the issue of dam safety and gave federal agencies specific direction to make dam safety a priority. Secondly, the memorandum was detailed with respect to what the agencies should be doing to improve and advance dam safety. Finally, the fact the memo came about at all and when it did is an interesting tale. This paper examines the President’s memorandum and the surprising story of its origin.
