Developing a Tool to Assess Vulnerabilities Downstream of Dams
The combination of structural vulnerabilites increasing with age and increasing likelihood of extreme precipitation puts entities downstream of dams at potential risk of flooding. These downstream entities are part of social, ecological, and technological systems (SETS) (Figure 1). Here at the Flint lab, we have developed an approach and dashboard tool to better visualize the potential impacts dam failures on downstream populations, ecosystems, and critical infrastructure. Utah, similar to other states in the US, has a large number of dams. A set of 189 high-hazard, state-regulated dams in Utah serve as a prototype for dashboard development.
This research is part of a larger NSF-funded, interdisciplinary project, Institute for Geospatial Understanding through an Integrative Discovery Environment (I-GUIDE; Award #2118329). I-GUIDE seeks to enable transformative discovery and innovation for tackling fundamental scientific and societal challenges that are at the cusp of achieving significant breakthroughs by harnessing the vast, diverse, and ever-growing corpus of geospatial data.
Within social systems we have estimated population, population density, social vulnerability index (SVI), and rural-urban commuting codes (RUCA) to highlight the rural, micropolitan, or metropolitan contexts. Within ecological vulnerabilities, using USGS GAP Data, we have identified protected ecosystems of status 1 and 2. Within technological systems we have identified aviation facilities, power plants, waste water treatment plants, hospitals, major roads (interstates, federal highways, state highways), railroads, natural gas pipelines, and power transmission lines. Visualizing downstream risks using a matrix approach allows for quick comparison across the state's dams. We have also developed matrices for dam attributes, land cover in inundation zones, and the potential for extreme precipitation based on climate modeling.
Please see the posted flyer and report below for more details.
Emergency Action Plans for High-Hazard Dams in Utah
Most high-hazard dams in Utah are required to develop an Emergency Action Plan—a legally mandated document that outlines the actions to be taken in the case of an emergency involving a dam, including a dam failure. We assessed the Emergency Action Plans for 189 high-hazard, state-regulated dams in the State of Utah and collected information on the revision status of each plan and the acknowledgement of downstream vulnerabilities located within each dam's inundation zone in these documents. To learn more about our study and findings, please see the flyer and policy brief below.
