ABSTRACT
The first of a series of tragic dam failures occurred in February 1972, when the failure of a poorly constructed coal waste dam in the Buffalo Creek Valley of West Virginia claimed more than 125 lives, left 4,000 people homeless, and caused approximately $50 million of property damage. Early in the summer of 1976, the congressionally mandated national program for dam safety was still under development when a devastating tragedy struck eastern Idaho. The Community and Economic Development Division of the General Accounting Office launched the review to assess and report to the Congress the "adequacy of the Corps' recommended program to protect human life and property" from dam failures. In September 1972, the nationwide dam inspection program was still in the planning stage. Dam inspections, the General Accounting Office argued, are an essential first step in protecting human life and property, in identifying safe dams, and in obtaining data to design a national dam safety program.
