Oregon considers seven dams across the state to be in “unsatisfactory” condition.
That means those dams are more closely inspected and could be declared unsafe if repairs aren’t made, said Diana Enright, spokeswoman for the Oregon Water Resources Department.
The state has been getting lots of questions about dam safety, Enright said, as a slow disaster unfolds at Oroville Dam in California, where nearly 200,000 people have been evacuated due to the threat of a breach and uncontrolled flooding.
Officials at the Association of State Dam Safety say thousands of the nation’s 84,000 regulated dams have the potential to fail.
Read more at the Statesman Journal.
