Trion dam not tested since 2001

TRION, Ga., Sep 24, 2009 (Chattanooga Times Free Press - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- TRON | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- A 40-year-old dam that just wasn't tall enough to hold back the Chattooga River last was inspected on Jan. 1, 2001, although it's supposed to be inspected every five years, according to National Inventory of Dams data.

Rebecca Ragon with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the keeper of the dam inventory, said she doesn't know why there's no more recent inspection date.

What's more, neither federal, state nor town officials are sure who's responsible for doing the inspections.

According to the Corps of Engineers' inventory, the dam is owned by the town of Trion. The corps' inventory states the dam is supposed to be inspected every five years under federal requirements for dams rated to present a high hazard potential should they fail.

On Monday, after more than 9 inches of rain, Chattooga County Emergency Management Agency Director Lamar Canada said floodwaters were threatening the dam in what he called "a grave situation for us."

On Wednesday, Trion Mayor Benjamin Perry said the river had returned to its banks and town cleanup is under way, but he didn't know if the dam was damaged.

"I haven't had anybody to check it, but I think it's probably pretty stable," he said. "I don't think it's damaged, just being able to see it from the road."

"It was under lot of pressure," he said. "But the best we can tell, it survived undamaged."

Mr. Perry said he doesn't know who inspects, or is supposed to inspect, the dam.

"I really don't know if GEMA (Georgia Emergency Management Agency) would or who it is," he said.

The mayor said the town of Trion has never done any maintenance on the structure.

Ms. Ragon said a dam usually "is either inspected and regulated by a federal agency or a state agency and, since this one is not federal owned by the corps (of engineers) or TVA, you'd think the state would be looking at it."

But she said she has no information from Georgia about the Trion dam.

Tom Woosley, manager of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources' Safe Dams Program, said his agency doesn't inspect the dam, either.

"I think it's probably up to the town to inspect it," he said, adding that the state inspects only high-hazard dams -- those that could endanger a large number of people living downstream should they fail.

When it was pointed out that the inspection frequency listed for the Trion Dam is five years, Mr. Woosley, like Ms. Ragon, was perplexed.

"I don't know," he said. "It is not on our list."

Mr. Canada, with the Chattooga County Emergency Management Agency, said regularly inspecting the dam is not GEMA's responsibility, either.

But today -- because of the flood -- the agency is bringing an infrastructure team to Trion to check it out along with other infrastructure in the town, he said.

"That will be one area that will definitely be addressed," Mr. Canada said.

DAM FACTS

--The Trion Dike was completed in 1980 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service.

--At 14 feet high, the dam is supposed to be inspected every five years. It last was inspected on Jan. 1, 2001, according to data submitted by the USDA on March 23, 2006.

Source: National Dam Inventory

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