Bureau of Indian Affairs Periodic Reviews

Challenges

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) administers nearly 150 high-hazard potential dams located on Tribal lands throughout the United States.  Periodic Reviews (PRs) are a fundamental component of BIA’s dam safety for high-hazard dams. PRs assess a dam’s overall condition, performance, and safety by integrating field observations with historical data, instrumentation records, and engineering analyses.

Solution

RJH performed PRs at 26 high-hazard dams over a four-year period.  Experienced engineers from RJH performed field inspections at each dam.  The field inspections included an examination of the dam and appurtenant structures, reservoir area, downstream channel, instrumentation, and mechanical equipment. At some dams, RJH performed additional evaluations and data collection including geotechnical investigations, closed circuit television camera inspections of outlet works, land and bathymetric surveys, and hazard classification analyses. At the completion of the field inspections and data collection, RJH developed a PR Report and Operations and Maintenance Manual for each dam.  The PR reports included budgetary cost estimates for recommended repairs to bring the dams into compliance with current dam safety standards.