DHEC issues repair orders for 167 more SC dams
State regulators have sent letters to owners of another 167 dams requesting that they submit repair plans after a historic rainstorm a month ago.
Twenty-six of those dams are in Richland and Lexington counties, among the areas hit hardest in the Oct. 4 storm that drenched the region with more than a foot of rain.
The latest round of repair requests comes for dams that DHEC said posed no immediate risk of failing after post-storm assessments with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, DHEC spokeswoman Jennifer Read said.
Three weeks ago, DHEC sent emergency orders to owners of 75 breached or severely damaged dams. Those orders required owners to lower water levels and hire engineers to inspect their dams. They had to submit repair plans by last week.
In the new repair requests, dam owners have until Feb. 2 to submit a report with an engineer’s recommendations and an application to receive a state permit for repairs, according to letters sent by the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.
The latest repair requests show DHEC has determined that more than a third of the dams in more densely populated areas require repair after post-storm inspections.
DHEC director Catherine Heigel said during an agency meeting Wednesday that state regulators would work to speed repair and construction permits for dams damaged in the storm.
During what has been called a once-in-a-thousand-year storm, 31 regulated dams failed statewide, including 18 in Richland and Lexington counties. Another five state unregulated dams also failed, including one on Fort Jackson, DHEC said.
Heigel said she is working with lawmakers and Gov. Nikki Haley’s office on dam-related legislation, but her office did not provide any details.
DHEC has hired HDR, an Omaha, Neb.-based engineering firm, to assess the state’s dam safety program, which has been ranked as one of nation’s most poorly funded.
Heigel said her agency’s Land and Waste Management division — which oversees underground storage tanks, infectious waste and mining — is “babysitting” dams that suffered the most damage. The dams receiving that close monitoring are the 75 that received emergency orders three weeks ago, Read said.
Heigel said she thinks the public has appreciated how her agency has posted information on its website about failed and damaged dams, but more work is needed. “Was the (dam) program perfect before? No,” she said. “We always have the opportunity for improvement.”
This story was originally published November 5, 2015 at 7:19 AM with the headline "DHEC issues repair orders for 167 more SC dams."