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Herron: Inspect exempt dams

From The Jackson Sun, May 18: 

State Sen. Roy Herron asked authorities Monday to inspect all of the state's high-hazard dams that are no longer regulated by the state due to an exemption provided in state law.

Herron, D-Dresden, said he was told the state has 70 high-hazard, non-federal dams not being inspected due to exemptions allowed in the Safe Dams Act of 1973.

Eight of those dams are in West Tennessee, 49 in Middle Tennessee and 13 in East Tennessee.

A high-hazard rating means people would likely die if the dam fails.

Many of the 70 dams qualify for what is known as a farm-pond exemption, which discontinues state inspections after a certain amount of time.

The exemption applies if the dam is used for conservation, recreation or agriculture by the owner and is closed to the public. A "farm pond" can be any size or hazard category, and it is not inspected by the state for safety.

The exemption also can take in watershed dams, which typically create lakes much larger than typical farm ponds.

Tennessee is the only state with a farm-pond exemption. The Farm Bureau lobbied for the exemption when the Tennessee Safe Dams Act was written in 1973.

Herron said he met Monday with representatives from the Tennessee Farm Bureau and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and with Lyle Bentley, director of the state's Safe Dams Program.

"I asked the department to seek permission to inspect all high-hazard dams for safety as soon as possible," Herron said. "I asked the Farm Bureau to ask its members to cooperate."

Neither Bentley nor a Farm Bureau spokesman could be reached for comment late Monday.

After the inspections, Herron wants a list of the high-hazard dams that appear to have some level of risk or issues with proper maintenance. He said he would work with colleagues to address the problems.

Tennessee has more than 1,200 non-federal dams, but more than 500 are exempt from regulation.

Herron hopes the state will change the law and require all high-hazard dams to be inspected annually.

"I've not given up on legislation during this session, but, realistically, time is running short because the session could end next week," Herron said.

"What we did today was take immediate steps to protect human life," he said. "Then we can figure out what we need to do in the future with inspections of dams."

Herron said he will send a summary of Monday's meeting to Gov. Phil Bredesen and to Jim Fyke, commissioner of the Department of Environment and Conservation.

Inspecting all of Tennessee's high-hazard dams will place a higher workload on the state's four dam inspectors, two in West Tennessee and one each in Middle and East Tennessee.

To help reduce the burden, Herron asked the Safe Dams Program to consider temporarily inspecting low-hazard dams every four years instead of the present three-year requirement. Low-hazard dams are expected to have little or no effect downstream if they fail.

Dams designated as "significant hazard" structures likely will cause property damage or temporary loss of roads or utilities if they fail, but there is a remote chance of loss of life. Those dams are inspected every two years.

The interest in examining the law follows publication of an investigation by The Jackson Sun that drew attention to the farm-pond exemption and other issues with dam inspections.
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