ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT: More than a third of all dam failures have been due to hydrologic inadequacy. While equipment malfunctions and operating errors have sometimes been to blame, inadequate spillway capacity leading to overtopping has been the principal cause. Thus, addressing hydrologic inadequacy is an important consideration for dam owners and dam safety regulatory programs. This paper examines various approaches to addressing hydro-logic inadequacy, highlighting some of those employed by the US Bureau of Reclamation amongst its portfolio of more than 350 dams and dikes and for the projects of other clients. Corrective action alternatives have included various approaches to raising dams, increasing existing spillway capacity by various means, adding emergency spillways of various types, providing overtopping protection, and employing Early Warning Systems as a nonstructural means of reducing the risk to life downstream.
