B.C.鈥檚 largest hydroelectric and open-pit mine dams have been under close scrutiny in recent years, but the same can鈥檛 be said for hundreds of other dams around the province, B.C.鈥檚 auditor general says.
Auditor General Michael Pickup鈥檚 review of regulated dams used for power generation, irrigation and flood control found that more than 60 per cent of those sampled lacked key information such as emergency contact and height of the dam. Nearly 200 dams were missing from ministry records
There are 1,900 regulated dams in the province, some designated as high-risk, and 87 of those had 鈥渟ignificant deficiencies鈥� that were not repaired for an average of more than seven years after the problems were identified, according to , released Sept. 14.
The audit did not include dams under construction, including B.C. Hydro鈥檚 Site C dam on the Peace River, or those associated with mines. Its focus is on the many smaller dams in the jurisdiction of the the forests and lands ministry.
In a statement to Black Press Media, the ministry said it is hiring five more dam safety staff to help take action on the auditor鈥檚 recommendations.
鈥淲hile dam owners are responsible for ensuring the safety of their operations, we recognize there鈥檚 more government can be doing to assist with oversight, outreach, and education,鈥� the ministry said.
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The audit makes nine recommendations, all of which have been accepted by the forests and lands ministry. They include reaching out to more dam owners to encourage safety training, rather than sending annual letters to owners of 鈥渉igh, very high and extreme consequence鈥� dams. 鈥淕oing forward, the ministry will explore options to expand this correspondence to include low and significant consequence鈥� dam owners, the ministry said in its response to the audit.
Another recommendation is to review staffing for mine inspection. The audit found that four out of 10 dam safety officers had a backlog of reports on high-consequence dam safety to review. 鈥淎verage time to accept safety reports was 20 months,鈥� the audit states. 鈥淪ome took eight years.鈥�
Pickup also recommends a province-wide program to identify dams built without authorization.
鈥淒am failures do not normally cause fatalities, but they can cause other damage,鈥� the audit says. 鈥淭he ministry reported, on average, three structural dam failures each year over the past five years, most of them causing minimal damage; however, larger failures have occurred in the past. For example, in 2010 the Testalinden Dam failed, destroying or damaging five homes and causing significant damage to crops and farm equipment.The debris covered 200 metres of Highway 97 and blocked several secondary roads. The estimated cost of this dam failure was in the millions of dollars.鈥�
tfletcher@blackpress.ca
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