Ongoing emergency inspection of dams throughout the state are a good beginning, but state officials have a lot more work to do to keep residents safe from catastrophic dam failures, experts say.

"Useful for starters and a lot more than we had before," Horst Brandes, a University of Hawai'i professor of civil and environmental engineering, said of the inspections being carried out by teams of specialists from the Army Corps of Engineers. "But the whole dam safety program needs to be improved.

"We need a program of regular inspections, and this document," he added, hoisting a copy of the state's Guidelines for Safety Inspections of Dams, "needs to be updated."

The guidelines were written shortly after then-Gov. John Waihee signed legislation in 1990 placing responsibility for dam and reservoir safety under the jurisdiction of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.

The condition of Hawai'i's mostly earthen dams is the focus of statewide inspections launched since the Kaloko dam failure March 14 on Kaua'i.

The dam failure unleashed more than 400 million gallons of water blasting through the areas below, killing three people and leaving four missing. Floodwater destroyed two homes and removed a large chunk of the island's main highway before reaching the ocean.

In Hawai'i, as in other states, the urgency for improved dam safety has arisen from disaster.

The state's 130 aging dams are mostly earthen structures built before modern safety criteria were in place. The dams were the subject of concern even before the Kaloko breach.

Frustrated over lack of support for dam safety in the state, the lone official tasked with overseeing dam regulations in Hawai'i said in October that we were "very fortunate" no major dam failure had occurred.

The guidelines adopted when the state's dam safety program was created call for the inspection of dams "on a five-year cycle, or more frequently to assure safety."

Hawai'i's understaffed and underfunded dam safety office has had trouble keeping up with the five-year schedule.

Some dams, including Kaloko, may not have not been inspected since the dam safety office was formed.

Even if the five-year schedule was being maintained, safety experts say it would be insufficient.

"High-hazard dams should be inspected at least once a year," said Sarah McCubbin Mayfield, a spokeswoman for the Association of State Dam Safety Officials, a national organization based in Lexington, Ky. "But those are the really in-depth inspections. They need visual inspections a lot more often."

"Regular inspections are paramount," said Fred Sage, field chief for the California Division of Safety of Dams.

"We inspect each dam once a year, at least. Higher-hazard dams, or those deemed deficient or not in good shape, we would inspect more than once a year."

He said routine inspections not only give inspectors and dam owners the ability to identify problems that could cause a dam to fail before a breach, but also help to build a better relationship between the owners and the state, making owners more willing and better trained to look after their dams.

State inspectors who visit dams frequently, Sage said, are more aware of new dangers that emerge around them, such as housing developments that arise on land once used only for agriculture.

For those times when good relations aren't enough, he said, it helps to have penalties written into the law.

FINES IN CALIFORNIA

California statutes allow for fines of up to $2,000 a day plus jail time, Sage said. Most dam owners aren't willing to risk the embarrassment.

California has 1,230 dams — nearly 10 times the number of dams in Hawai'i. It has 36 engineers assigned to inspections and permitting — 36 times the number of engineers assigned to dam safety in Hawai'i.

The California engineers also have sufficient support staff, Sage said.

Peter Young, who heads the DLNR, said steps are being taken to add an engineer and an assistant to the Hawai'i dam safety office, which is currently manned by one engineer who also deals with other flood-related issues.

The governor is supporting legislation that will increase the dam safety budget, now at about $160,000 a year, by providing $5 million to evaluate state dams, he said.

DLNR Deputy Director Bob Masuda said the dam safety office will be brought up to speed.

"We'll take it step by step," he said yesterday as he flew home to the Big Island after a week of working with emergency inspectors on Kaua'i. "This is just the beginning. The governor is being apprised. I have every confidence she'll do the right thing."

Brandes, the engineer at UH, said technological advances made in the years after Hawai'i's Guidelines for Safety Inspections of Dams were written could add further safety measures for dams in earthquake-susceptible areas, which include the Big Island and part of Maui.

In April 2004, Brandes prepared a 71-page document for DLNR on assessing the ability of dams to withstand seismic activity, but he said he doesn't think the document is in use.

Sage said California put some of that new technology to work about five years ago, when geologists predicted that a large quake would hit within 30 years.

Five dams were found to be susceptible, and remediations are being undertaken, he said.

Sage said California has had a dam safety program in effect since 1929, but it didn't spring from foresight and good planning.

The year before, he said, a dam owned by Los Angeles and built by a famous dam designer had shown signs of potential problems during a particularly rainy season. The designer was called in to inspect, and declared the dam safe.

Within two days of that declaration, a 150-foot-tall wall of water crashed through 15 miles of heavily populated Southern California, killing 450 people on its way to the sea.

OTHER STATES' PROJECTS

McCubbin Mayfield of the Association of State Dam Safety Officials said the list of states struggling to build better safety systems for dams and levees is growing — mostly in response to disaster.

Missouri, Massachusetts, Louisiana and New York are among the other states that have suffered catastrophic or near-catastrophic dam failure.

"I get pretty bent out of shape sometimes," she said. "It is real upsetting to realize these things aren't taken seriously until people die."

Reach Karen Blakeman at kblakeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.