Legal Responsibilities (Public Safety)

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{noautolinks>Several steps have been identified for dam owners to pursue to reduce the hazard and liability of dam ownership and to proceed with the ‘actions of a reasonable person' that is the legal litmus and precedent. Here is a list of common, but not comprehensive, steps:

1. Identify, inventory, and recognize all low head dams in their portfolio and jurisdiction
2. Identify all potential co-owners, partners, stakeholders, funding sources, and authorities
3. Contact State and Federal Dam Safety authorities for help in dam inventory, ownership, and use quantification and hazard assessment
4. Identify existing programs for mitigation and public education assistance with local and national emergency response agencies, police and fire departments, and wildlife and boating organizations
5. Promote a public education campaign using social media, web pages, signs, pamphlets, interpretive displays, public service announcements and warnings, newspapers, and magazines
6. Develop non-structural mitigation strategies such as signage, fences, log booms, or barriers creating portages and exclusion zones
7. With your engineer, quantify the flow ranges when these low head dams are most hazardous using models and simulations
8. Develop structural mitigation solutions or removal options for the low head dams and funding sources

Citations:

Revision ID: 5086
Revision Date: 12/09/2022